"I^ 
 
 & 
 

§>piritual Creasurp 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE CHILDREN OF GOD: 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 J MEDITATION FOR EACH EVEXIXG LY THE YEAR, 
 
 UPON 
 
 SELECT TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 UMBLY INTENDED TO ESTABLISH THE FAITH, PROMOTE THE COMFORT, 
 ASD INFLUENCE THE PRACTICE OF THE FOLLOWERS OF THE LAMB. 
 
 V 
 BY AVILLIAM MASON, ESQ. 
 
 In Christ arc hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ..Col. ii. 3. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 PRINTED BV DEARE AND ANDREWS, NO. 12, CEDAR-STREET. 
 1803. 
 
SPIRITUAL TREASURY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 CHILDREN OF GOD, s;c. 
 
 JANUARY 1. 
 JVe sec Jesus,... Heb. ii.9. 
 
 Fine sights of human pomp and worldly grandeur captivate 
 camal minds, and ravish natural senses. It is common to hear 
 persons say in an ecstacy, O, I could sit all night to see a fine play I 
 But one sight of the matchless charms ajul dazzling glories of our 
 Saviour, makes all other things appear mean and contemptible. We 
 turn our eyes from them and say, I put away these childish things: 
 I have an heavenly object, infinitely superior to such low, mean, 
 perishing vanities. I know one, who having heard that faithful 
 minister of Christ, Mr. Whitefield, when he first preached in the 
 fields, upwards of thirty years ago; on being asked which he liked 
 best, to hear him preach, or see Vauxhall? profanely replied, 
 "Whitefield only preaches of heaven, but Vauxhall is heaven itself." 
 Poor soul ! he was then blind to his want of Christ, and to his glory 
 and excellency. But, to the glory of his rich grace, that poor sin- 
 ner is out of hell, and can now happily join the faithful in saying, 
 WE SEE Jesus. So then, the once profane sinner is changed into 
 the visionary enthusiast. Enthusiasm to see Jesus! "Enthusiastic 
 this? then all are blind but rank enthusiasts:" for the essence of 
 the gospel, the joy of sinners, and the glory of faitli consist in this 
 sight. What is life itself without it? for, alas! we have lost all 
 righteousness, holiness and happiness, in ourselves; but we see all 
 these, with heaven and glory, restored to us in Christ. O blessed 
 day! happy hour! joy fid moment! when the sight of our inestima- 
 bly precious Saviour first saluted tlie eyes of our mind and became 
 the object of our faith! It Avas the beginning of days; yea our 
 birth-day to eternal blessedness. This sight is a feast to our souls 
 all the year. We delight to begin the year with seeing Jesus. We 
 salute one another with, " I wish you a happy new year." What 
 
4 JANUARY 1. 
 
 mean we, but I wish you to see Jesus? What can make the year 
 happy without this ? This creates heaven in the soul. Then it is 
 a happy year indeed. But without this precious view of faith we 
 can get no ease from the burden of sin, therefore our souls must be 
 miserable. This world can afford us no real happiness. The 
 thoughts of death will torment us; and the view of judgment fill us 
 wiih dread and terror. But, O happy sinners who can bless God 
 with Simeon, and say " mine eyes have seen thy salvation!". ...Luke 
 ii. 30. I see Christ: he is all my salvation and all mv desire. Ye 
 heaven-born, highly-favored souls, well may ye say, time hasten 
 on, years roll round, moments fly swiftly, and bring me to the full 
 enjoyment of my beloved Saviour in his kingdom of glory. For, 
 
 •We see Jesus, who saw us, loved us, pitied and saved us when 
 dead in our sins, cursed by the law, and polluted in our blood. We 
 look back and see him an outcast babe, a despised man, crucified 
 as a vile malefactor, bearing our sins on the cross, made a sacrifice 
 for our souls, and redeeming us to God by his blood. We glory in 
 him as the only atonement for our sins and our one righteousness to 
 justify our souls; for he is the Lord our KiGHTEOusNEss....Jer. 
 xxiii. 6. We look up and see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, 
 pleading our cause and interceding for our persons at the right 
 hand of God, and ever living to save us to the uttermost. We look 
 forw ard to judgment ; awful day ! we see 
 
 ' A trembling world, and a devouring God.* 
 But 0,,how bright the prospect shines! we see Jesus coming with 
 power and great glory to receive us to his kingdom, that where he 
 is there we may be also. 
 
 Do we thus see Jesus by faith as revealed in the word of truth ? 
 Then we are new creatures in him. We are called, Avith Moses, 
 " to endure (every fight of affliction) seeing him who is invisible.".... 
 Heb. xi. 27. We are exhorted to " lay aside every weight, and the 
 sin which doth so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race 
 set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our 
 faith."....Heb. xii. 1, 2. Thus we obey the will of God our Father, 
 who commands us, " Behold mine elect, in whom my soul delight- 
 cth."....Isa. xlii. 1. " My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 ....Matt. iii. 17. 
 
 Jesus is the chiefcst good, Jesus gives us life and peace, 
 
 He has sav'dus by his blood, Faith and love, and holiness, 
 
 Let us value nought but him, Every blessing great and small. 
 
 Nothing clie deserves esteem. Jesus for us purchas'd all. 
 
 Jcsu'., when stern justice said, Jesus therefore let us own, 
 
 " Man his life has forfeited Jesus we'll exalt alone. 
 
 •• Vengeance follows by decree," Jesus has our sins forgiven. 
 
 Cried, " Inflict it all «n me." Jesus' blood has bought us heaven. 
 
JANUARY 2. S 
 
 The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall 
 they glory.... Je}\ iv. 2. 
 
 "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed xis to God by thy 
 blood, out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation." This is 
 part of the new song which is sung at the right hand of God in 
 honor and glory to the Lamb... .Rev. v. 9. Shall we not honor and 
 glorify him here below? What should be the employ of the re- 
 deemed and called every day they live on earth till they join their 
 brethren in heaven? Why, to bless themselves ik the Lord. Bless 
 one's self ! Is not that boasting and vain-glory ? Yes, if it arises from 
 any merit, self-righteousness or excellence which we fancy we 
 possess. Rut we are to bless ourselves because we are in the 
 Lord, and blessed by our (ion and Father with all spiritual bles- 
 sings in Christ Jesus. Though a sinner, a miserable sinner, yea, 
 a law-arctirsed sinner in thyself, yet bless thyself as a rich saint, 
 a holy, happy soul in Christ; beloved of God, chosen of God, re- 
 conciled to God, at peace with Ciod, an heir of God, and joint heir 
 with Jesus. Bless thy soul that it is born again of the Spirit to 
 partake of such inestimable privileges. This is an evangelical 
 duty. It raises the affections to the Lord of our salvation. It re- 
 Tives the heart. It fortifies the mind against sin and invigorates 
 the soul to all holy obedience. Therefore it should be our daily worlr 
 to bless ourselves, and to bless the Lord for what he hath done for 
 us and in us. O, Holy Spirit, raise our legal spirits to the exercise 
 of this gospel practice! Cause our souls to delight more in, and to 
 glory more of the Lord our righteousness. "Th him shall they 
 glory." One view of Christ by faith stains the pride of all human 
 gloj-ying. O, what glory shines in the person of Jesus! He is God 
 and man in one Christ. What glory is displayed in his love to us 
 sinners, in redeeming us to God by his blood, justifying us by his 
 righteousness, living to pray for us as our advocate, and saving us 
 day by day from sin, and everlastingly, from hell to heaven. Let 
 us constantly dwell upon and glory in his person, his work, his 
 offices, and his everlasting love below, till we come to cast down 
 ©ur crowns before him above. 
 
 For while our souls are thus sweetly exercised from day to day, 
 sin loses its dominion, satan his power, the world its charms, self is 
 denied, fears subside, hopes are lively, love reigns, our affections 
 are above, our spirits are on the wing for God, and this is our con- 
 stant language, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross 
 . i)f our Lord Jesus Christ.".. ..Gal. vi. 14. 
 
6 JANUARY 3. 
 
 Things lluit accoinpauij salvation. ...Heb. vi. 9.. 
 
 Mary mistook Christ for the gardener.. ..John xx. 15. We are 
 very apt to mistake our e:raccs for our Saviour. Some put their faith 
 in the place of Christ's righteousness. They say, we are justified 
 by our faith, and not by the righteousness of Christ. Others call 
 the graces of the covenant the conditions of salvation. These are 
 sad mistakes. Hereby the glory of Christ is eclipsed. The sinner's 
 eye is turned from the Saviour to himself. His trust is placed in 
 his graces instead of Christ. He mistakes the things which accom- 
 pany salvation, for salvation itself. What are the things which 
 accompany salvation? Naturally, we have none of them. We have 
 only the things which accompany damnation. We are no more able 
 to work them in ourselves than a dead corpse can raise itself to life, 
 or a devil in hell change himself into an angel in heaven. They are 
 the train of graces which ever attend the king of saints. The Saviour 
 brings them with himself into the saved sinner's heart. They are 
 the graces of his Spirit. 1st. Faith in Jesus, as a redeeming, jus- 
 tifying, sanctifying Saviour. 2d. Rejientance towards God, as 
 receiving and pardoning sinners in Christ: haired of sin and turn- 
 ing from sin to Christ. 3d. Hope; which is as an anchor of the 
 soul, by keeping it steady in the expectation of what the word pro- 
 mises and faith believes. 4th. Love to God, excited by his love to 
 US in Christ. 5th. Peace with God through oiir Lord Jesus Christ. 
 6th. Joy in God, having now received the atonement by faith. 7th. 
 Heavcnly-mindedness, by living on Jesus. 8th. Deadness to sin, 
 by the body of Christ. 9th. Deadness to the world, being crucified 
 V ith Christ. 10th. Living to holiness, being alive unto God through 
 Jesus Christ, llih. Love to our brethren and fellow-sinners, being 
 passed from death, to life. And to all the rest, constant dissatisfac- 
 tion with ourselves, seeing we still arc miserable sinners, imperfect 
 creatures, unprofitable servants. We look on nothing within us as 
 our title to glory, but wholly and solely to Jesus. These graces we 
 receive out of his fulness. These are cAidences of interest in him, 
 make us meet for heaven, and accompany salvation. For w"e have 
 fellowship with God, and his Son Jesus Christ. Paul was persuaded 
 cf these things concerning his christian brethren. Sec then the 
 glorious nature of Christianity. The faith of the gospel and the 
 hope of salvation are not cn)pty notif>ns. But "whom God justified,, 
 them he also glorified. "....Hom. viii. 30. Those whom he adorns 
 with the glorious robe of Christ's righteousness, he makes glorious 
 with the graces of his Spirit, What God hath joined together let not 
 man put asunder....Matt. xix. 6. 
 
JANUARY 4. r 
 
 To this man ivill I look, even to him that is poor, and of a 
 contrite spirit, and tremblcth at my ivord....ha. Ixvi. 2. 
 
 The Lord, whose throne is in the highest heaven and whose 
 footstool is the earth, here enquires after a place of residence and rest. 
 As though about to quit his throne he looks unto man. Behold he 
 tabernacles in man. He makes the human nature his temple. 
 Hence he looks to his brethren in flesh, however poor, miserable, 
 and distressed. As his look of love is towards them so he brings 
 them to look for mercy from him. But we are all naturally too rich 
 in our own eyes to be indebted to his grace, too stubborn of spirit 
 to bow to his sceptre, and too stout-hearted to hearken to his voice 
 and submit to his righteousness. Well, glory to the Lord, he has 
 mercy for rebels as well as a heaven for saints; yea, of sturdy 
 rebels he makes humble saints. How? Thus, "The day of the 
 Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and 
 upon every one that is lifted up, and he Bhall be brought low....Isa. 
 ii. 12. O soul, dost thou see thy poverty, over head and ears in 
 debt to law ajid justice, nothing but rags to cover thy nakedness, and 
 liable to be cast into the prison of hell? Give glory to the Lord. 
 The day of the Lord is upon thee ; the light of truth has shincd into 
 thee ; and as though there was not another man upon the earth, the 
 Lord looks to thee, even to thee, thou poor sinner. Thou sayest 
 I abhor myself, I tremble to look at myself, I am so poor, so mise- 
 rable, and so wretched. Surely, the Lprd must turn away his eyes 
 from me with loathing and abhorrence. No: to this man will I look, 
 saith the Lord. Yes, saith the humble soul. If I had but a contrite 
 spirit, if I did but tremble at God's word, I might think so, I should 
 hope so; but I can see nolliing in myself why the Lord should look 
 upon me and love me. I tremble to be found in myself. O, if the 
 Lord had not looked on tlice as he did on Peter, thou wouldst never 
 have had such a contrite spirit, nor such a trembling heart. Jesus 
 beholds and loves his image there. He was once a poor man as thou 
 art. He had not where to recline his weary head, or to find comfort 
 for his sorrowful soul, but in and from the loving breast of his 
 <iear Father. That is thy case. Instead of being a proud Pharisee, 
 why art thou a poor sinner? Instead of making a mock at sin, why 
 is thy heart broken for sin ? Instead of despising the Lord's word, 
 why dost thou tremble to be found out of Christ? All, all is because 
 the Lord looks to thee. O look, look unto him and be saved from 
 all thy doubts and fears I Thy poverty and contrition are not condi- 
 tions, but blessed evidences of salvation. Our Lord assures us, 
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 
 ....Matt. V. 3. 
 
« JANUARY 5. 
 
 In whom also, after tliat yc believed, ije iterc sealed, zcilh 
 thai holy Spirit of promise. ...Eph. i. 13. 
 
 Some consider this scaling as the highest assurance, which but 
 few obtain. Others, as a state of perfection in holiness, and entire- 
 freedom from the being of sin. This some pretend to, liut no one 
 enjoys in this Ufe. But it is plain the apostle means nothing more 
 than what all believers in common are favored with. Not after ye 
 believed, but in belikving ye were sealed, says the learned Mr. 
 Hervey. That is, as soon as ye received the truth in the love of it, 
 ye were sealed by the Spirit as the children of God by fuich in Christ 
 Jesus. Consider, 1st. what is implied in being sealed. A seal is 
 to make an impression of its contents. Sealing an instrument is 
 making it valid, and acknowledging it as our act and deed. The 
 heart of a believing sinner, melted by the word and Spirit of God, is 
 the subject of this sealing. The contents of this seal is grace and 
 TRUTH, which came by Jesus Christ.. ..John i. 17. This is sealed 
 upon the heart by the act and deed of the Holy Spirit. This impress 
 of salvation by the grace and truth of the Son of God, is made so 
 deep and lasting on the believing heart, that time with all its changes, 
 sin with all its malignity, the world with all its charms and frowns, 
 and satan with all his power and fraud can never, never eflace. It 
 ■will remain as the impress of the seal on the wax. It answers to the 
 revelation of Jesus made in the word, as the impressed wax to the 
 seal. Such a sealed heart is God's jewel. He has distinguished it 
 as his own. It will receive no other impression but from the broad 
 seal of heaven, salvation by the blood and righteousness of the Son of 
 Ciod ONLv. Now, is this seal upon your heart? Do you reject with 
 abhorrence every other hope ? Do you believe in, look to, and trust 
 Jesus for all your salvation? Rejoice: you are sealed. For, consider 
 2d. All believers arp: sealed. 1. The sealer is the Spirit of pro- 
 mise. He is alike promised to all the believing members of Christ. 
 They are heirs of promise. They have fled to Jesus for refuge and 
 laid hold of him as their hope: and nothing but consolation, yea 
 strong consolation awaits them from the God of promise. 2. He is 
 the Holy Spirit. By this sealing he impresses the heart with the 
 love of Christ, of truth, and of holiness. And, 3. He hereby fulfils 
 our Lord's prayer, for his members " sanctify them through thy 
 truth. "....John xvii. 17. Therefore, though in heaviness through 
 manifold temptations; though in dejection from many enemies, let 
 not go your confidence of faith. Rate not yourself an unbeliever. 
 Think not yourself under the curse of the law. Deny not the Spirit's, 
 work. For if you believe on Jesus in your heart, " yc arc sealed unto 
 tlic day of iedemption."....Ej)h. iv. 30. 
 
JANUARY 6. 9 
 
 Blessed is the man unto zvhom the Lord imputeth not ini- 
 quity. ...Psalm xxxii. 2. 
 
 When the Spirit bears Avitness to the believing heart, thou art 
 this blessed man, O what a heavenly transport of love, peace, and 
 joy abounds I Every believer in Christ is this blessed man. Though 
 they do not all enjoy the sense of this blessedness. ' The law may 
 charge sin upon the conscience, satan may bring many accusations, 
 and the poor sinner may reckon many iniquities against himself, and 
 be ready to rate himself a cursed man, when the Lord imputes not 
 a single iniquity to him, bui pronounces him blessed. Sight often 
 opposes truth. Sense prevails against faith. Hence the soul is in 
 fear and distress. What can one do in such seasons ? Believe against 
 sense, hope against hope. Oppose God's declarations to nature's 
 feeling. Mind, it is not said, blessed is the man who hath no ini- 
 i^uity, but unto whom the Lord imputeth none. Well, but if I see, 
 and know, and feel that I have iniquity, surely the Lord will impute 
 it to me and charge it to my account. What! after God hath 
 charged sin to thy surety's account, reckoned with him for it, and 
 received full satisfaction at his hands, will he charge it again to 
 t.hee? No, God is just. He knows he imputed to, and laid upon 
 his Son, the iniquity of us all....Isa. liii. 6. God made Christ to be 
 gin for us, that we might be righteous in him. ...2 Cor. v. 21. In 
 <iiM, O blessed state! we stand righteous in Christ, are blessed in 
 Christ. No iniquity is imputed to us, but the Lord imputeth righ- 
 teousness without our works. ...Rom. iv. 6. This is the blessedness 
 gf faith. Every believer in Jesus is thus blessed. If the Lord im- 
 pute no iniquity to him, who shall? Who shall lay any thing to the 
 charge of God's elect? O believer, glory in thy blessedness and 
 give the Lord the glory of it. Nor sin, nor death, nor hell shall 
 rob thee of it in time, nor eternity. But if the Lord imputes no 
 iniquity to thee, he hath also created a new spirit within thee, a 
 spirit without guile, that is, upright with the Lord Jesus, that trusts 
 in him and cleaves to him only. Look at St. Paul. See the up- 
 rightness of his soul. He was like a chaste virgin to Christ. Imi- 
 tate him. Propose what you would to him, but Christ: whether 
 the pomps of the world, the pleasures of sin, the glory of self- 
 righteousness, says he, away with it all, I renounce it all as dross 
 and dung. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss, for 
 the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.... 
 Phil. iii. 8. 
 
 Tho' sin infects our ruin'd race, Thus are wc blfssM alone thro* faith 
 
 And seals us under wrath; Of Jesus crucify 'd, 
 
 Yet God imputes thro' his rich grace, No sin will God impute, he saith, 
 Christ's righteousness and death. To those for whom Christ dj'd, M. 
 
 Vol. IL B 
 
10 JANUARY 1. 
 
 God hath scaled us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in 
 oitr hearts. ...2 Cor. i. 22. 
 
 NoNK but a sinner believing in Christ can say, God hath sealed 
 me. But every believer in him may truly say so. This seemed 
 very plain from a former meditation. Do all believers alike enjoy 
 the comfort of this sealing? No: tio more than any one believer, 
 alike, at all times, enjoys the comfort of it. This is a certain 
 truth, " by faith we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ."... .Rom. v. 1. Though every believer is alike justified 
 before God and is at peace with God, yet every one has not the like 
 sense of peace, nor any one at all times. So it is of this blessed 
 privilege of sealing. But if it is not looked upon, and believed 
 that it may be alike enjoyed in common by all believers, many 
 Avill rest short of the comfort of it. And indeed this is the case. 
 How few believers are crying, I^ord give me the comfort of this 
 sealing. In believing we are sealed. In believing we enjoy the 
 comiort of it. But here is also another precious blessing of the Lord 
 to his people, thf. karnest of his spirit. This also is the pri- 
 vilege of all believers. Consider what is an earnest? It is a pledge 
 given in covenants and bargains, as a part to insure the whole. 
 This is common in things of this life. So in salvation, God gives 
 his Spirit as the earnest and pledge of our certain enjoyment of all 
 the glory and blessedness of heaven. This is according to covenant 
 love and promise to sinners who believe in Chrisi. But how is the 
 Spirit an earnest of this? Mind, it is in our hkarts. He brings 
 our hearts to believe in and to be in love with Christ. Yea, brings 
 Christ into our hearts. He dwells there by faith. He bears witness 
 of Christ and salvation by him to our hearts. He takes of the 
 things of Christ, such as adojrtion by Christ, vmion to him, pardon 
 of sin through his blood, justification in his righteousness, peace 
 with God and joy in God through his mediation, and tl>c hope of 
 eternal life through his intercession. He shews these unto us. 
 Thus says Christ, "he shall glorify rae."....John xvi. 14. And 
 thus he fills us with joy and peace in believing. He beais witness 
 to our spirits that we are the children of God, by faith in Christ 
 Jesus, iind that salvation is sure in him to us. O believers, see 
 your inestimable privilege. Give the Lord the glory of it. Plead 
 for the comfort of it. This will endear the love of Father, Son and 
 Spirit to your hearts, cause you to look down with contempt on the 
 world, to hate all sin, to love holiness, and to look up with longing 
 delight and growing meetness for heaven and glory. And be assured 
 that as inily as God gave his Son to die for your sins, and hath 
 given his Spirit as an earnest in you heart, eteraal life also sliall be 
 yours by his free gift....Rom. vi. 23. 
 
JANUARY 8. 11 
 
 Ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.... Eph. iv, SOv 
 
 Who are thus sealed? Every believer in Christ. This was 
 shewed in the last meditation. This sealing' here, and elsewhere, is 
 spoken of as a thing done. Ye are, ye ivercy God hath sealed us.... 
 2 Cor. i. 22. If all believers ai*e not sealed, it is absurd to exhort 
 them: " grieve not the Spirit, whereby ye are sealed." Know, be- 
 lievers, that this is your inestimable privilege. Rejoice in it. Give 
 the Lord the glory of it. O, may the Spirit, the sealer, help us to 
 make some improvement of it. 1st. Are all believers sealed unto 
 the day of redemption? then is their state safe, and theii' salvation 
 sure. "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the 
 Lord knoweth them who are his.".... 2 Tim. ii. 19. They shall be 
 mine, saith the Lord, when I make up my jewels, 8cc....Mal. iii. 17. 
 It is horrid blasphemy to assert, any soul may go to hell whom 
 the Spirit has sealed with the broad seal of heaven. 2d. Are 
 we thus sealed by the Spirit? then let our souls adore his eternal 
 power and godhead, and praise him for his work in us. What 
 power short of omnipotent could open our blind eyes, quicken our 
 dead souls, subdue our rebellious wills, and bring our proud, self- 
 righteous hearts to submit to the righteousness of Christ, and to 
 receive him for our whole salvation? Mas the Spirit sealed us as the 
 sons of God, and jMissessed our hearts with the peace of God through 
 faith in Christ? 3d. lieware that you do not grieve the Spirit. Do 
 we bear the impress of the Spirit's seal? Shall we then do the devil's 
 drudgery in our lives, with (iod's seal upon our hearts? O ye sealed 
 ones of God, be singular for God. Be exemplary in your lives 
 before God. Consider whose image and superscription you beaiv 
 Sink not below your dignity. Shim vanity-fair. Avoid what grati- 
 fies the flesh. Flee the scenes of folly. Leave them to souls who 
 know not the love of your Christ. Live in the Spirit and walk 
 in the Spirit, 4th. Sealed believer, know that this sealing of the 
 Spirit is the finishing grace of the covenant of love. Now "you are 
 complete in Christ."... .Col. ii. 10. Your title is clear to the heavenly 
 inheritance. Live by faith upon the conifort of it. Reject all doubts 
 and fears concerning it. Soon yoa sliall possess it.. Lay hold ons 
 eternal lLfe....l Tim. vl. 12. 
 
 May the West Spirit Ih my lieart, O, may 1 never once forget 
 
 Sweetly dilTiise abroad What a poor worm 1 am : 
 
 The love of God, th' incarnate God, From death and hell redeem'd by btood,. 
 
 Who bought me with, his blood. The blood of Gods dear Lamb- M. 
 
12 JANUARY 0. 
 
 Lord remember me, ivhcji thou comest into thy kingdom.... 
 Luke xxiii. 42, 
 
 When Joseph had interpreted the chief butler's dream, how 
 pathetically does he plead with him! Think of me when it shall be 
 well with thee.. ..Gen. xl. But alas I such the base ingratitude of 
 man, all was in vain. When restored to his dignity at court, hfe 
 thought no more of poor Joseph in prison. Exalted stations elevate 
 the mind above feeling for the distressed. But it is not so with the 
 King of kings. He is ever the friend of poor sinners. He remem- 
 bers us in our low estate. Behold, for us he now hangs on the 
 accursed tree, between two cursed sinners. One was taken, X\\t 
 other left. See your own state in both. Behold the marvellous 
 power of the Lord's sovereign grace in one. Consider, 1st. Heft 
 is a reviler of Jesus changed into a petitioner to him. There was 
 no alteration in any outward circumstances. All things continued just 
 the same. Christ hung, to all appearance, as a mere man dying at 
 his side. What then caused the change in him r O, hide your 
 heads and blush at your proud notions of your free will I fall down 
 and adore distinguishing grace. One malefactor is left to his free 
 will and expires blaspheming Jesus: the other dies believing in 
 him and praying to him. He was snatched by grace from the'gates 
 of death and hell, as a brand which our Saviour Avould not suffer to 
 be burned. Now, do you see your nature as wicked and yo\ir state 
 equally as desperate as this thief's? then you will be humbled. Dd 
 you see that nothing but the same grace of Christ can save you ? then 
 you will exalt the free grace of Christ. 2d. See the effects of it. 
 He owns the justness of his sentence, reproves his free-will brother, 
 and proclaims the innocence of Christ. O, fall doAvn and own that 
 the sentence of the law which curses you for sin, is just. Repel 
 the pride and self-righteousness of your heart. Exalt the love and 
 grace of our Saviour. 3d. Hear his prayer. Lord, though thou 
 diest as an ignominious man, yet thou art the Lord of life and glory. 
 Remembek me. There is no Saviour but thee, no salvation but by 
 thee. I am a hopeless, helpless sinner; unless thou save me, I 
 must be damned eternally. Thou art a King. Thou hast a kingdom. 
 O, bring my soul into it! Now, have you just the same plea this 
 thief had? Have you no other? Do you desire no better? Do you 
 expect salvation from the same Saviour, on the very same terms? 
 Then you are taught by the same Spirit, have the same faith in, 
 and shall soon be in glory with the same Lord, "who is rich in mercy 
 unio all who call on him.".. ..Rom. x. 12. 
 
JANUARY 10. 15 
 
 Hereby kmnc yc the Spirit of God: every spirit thatconfes- 
 seth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God.... 
 I John iv. 2. 
 " You study too much, it will kill you," says one and another. 
 What I the study of Christ, who i» the life, health, and joy of one's 
 soul, kill one? Precious death to die in such sweet exercise. It is 
 only to fall asleep in Jesus, and awake with him in g;lory. I am 
 sure (through grace) this delightful study will kill the life of sense, 
 the power of sin, and the delusions of satan. Christ help us to 
 study him more and more. The apostle here warns us against 
 false spirits which are not of God. He bids us believe not every 
 spirit but try tiicm. For many false prophets are gone out under a 
 spirit of delusion. We are in danger of being deceived by them. 
 Here is a fixed rule to know whether they are of God or not. 1st. 
 Know vk the Spirit of God. Many pretend to have received 
 him: to preach by his inspiration; to glory in ecstacies of comfort 
 and revelations from the Spirit. Look at them with a godly jealousy. 
 Be iv>t hastily carried away by them. Do not condemn your own 
 state because you feel yourself a burdened sinner, groan under 
 your burden, and though from day today you are looking unto' 
 Jesus, yet have not these ecstacies and transports they pretend to. 
 2d. Know the Spirit of God, hereby " every spirit that confcsseth 
 that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God." This is the 
 true testimony of the Spirit of God. Keep your eye steadily on 
 this. What is implied in this? 1st. That God and man in one 
 Christ is come to save us. 2d. The end of his so coming was " to 
 finish transgressions, to make an end of sins, to make reconcilia- 
 tion for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting iightcousness."....Dan. 
 ix. 24. Christ hath perfectly and everlastingly done all this in our 
 flesh for our souls. Therefore, 3d. If the whole of this is not 
 confessed, if any part of this is denied, then " the vision and pro- 
 phecy is not allowed to be sealed up and finished." And if comforts 
 and joys arise not from the firm belief of Christ's finished work for 
 us, but from what we have done or can do towards our own salva- 
 tion, this is not of the Spirit of God, but another spirit, the 
 spirit of pride, of delusion, and of anti-christ. For it is against con- 
 fessing that Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the fii-st and the last, 
 the all in all of a sinner's salvation. O, beware of that spirit which 
 bears witness of any thing in you for righteousness to justify you 
 before God, or as the ground of your acceptance in his sight. 
 Away with it all as filth and dung. Reject both the spirit and his 
 testimony. Know ye " the Spirit of God beareth witness, becaustt 
 the Spirit is truth.'....] John v. 6. 
 
U JANUARY II. 
 
 Jf any man have not the Spirit of Christy he is none of his.... 
 Rom. vlii. 9. 
 
 This is one of the most awful truths in the bible. He wh« 
 hath not the Spirit of Christ, doth not know Christ, will not believe 
 on him, cannot love him. Then that dreadful sentence stands out 
 at^ainst him; living and dying so, will certainly fall upon him...." If 
 any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, 
 maran-atha," that is, under the most dreadful curse, till the Lord 
 Cometh to execute the severest vengeance of it....l Cor. xvi. 22. 
 Jesus, master save us from this. Holy Spirit, rather let us be desti- 
 tute of every blessing than want love to Christ. O, shed a Saviour's 
 love abroad in our hearts, and that shall kindle ours. What is it to 
 have the Spirit of Christ? How may we know that we have the 
 Spirit of Christ? Consider, 1st. the appellation here given the 
 Spirit of Christ. This will greatly help us to solve these ques- 
 tions. You may perceive the Spirit a man is of, by his temper and 
 conduct. The men of this world have the spirit of this world. 
 Their walk and conduct shew it. They set their affections on» 
 seek all their happiness in, and expect all their comfort from the 
 riches, honors and pleasures of this world. So it is with us all by 
 nature. We have not the Spirit of Christ, liut when the fulness 
 of time comes, according to his covenant engagements with God 
 the Father and God the Son, God the Spirit is pleased to visit our 
 €0uls. Then he opens our eyes to see both our own sin and misery, 
 *nd to behold the righteousness and happiness there is in Christ* 
 He enables us to believe in Christ, to savour the things of Christ, 
 and to cry out, none but Christ, none but Christ be my portion, m 
 time and to eternity. Have we a sigh in our hearts after Christ 
 to be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption ? 
 This is of the Spirit of Christ. Do we groan under a body of sin 
 and death, and cry out, O wretched that we are, who shall deliver 
 us? Do we thank God for Jesus Christ as the only Saviour, justifier 
 and deliverer? We have the Spirit of Christ. Can we come to a 
 throne of grace, seeing ourselves miserable sinners, yet believing 
 the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin and the righteous- 
 ness of Christ justifies from all condemnation, and therefore cry, 
 God be merciful to me a sinner, Jesus save me or I perish ? This is 
 from the faith of Christ. This is the prayer of faith. The Spirit 
 of Christ has inspired it. We have the Spirit of Christ. Do we 
 delight to hear of Christ, to have fellowship with Christ, to live 
 upon Christ, to walk with Christ, and to have the power of Christ's 
 grace subdue the power of sin in our hearts, lips and lives? Verily 
 ve have the Spirit of Christ. "The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, 
 so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.".. ..Gal. v. 17. 
 
JANUARY 12. 15 
 
 Jesus said, f?iy mother and my brethren are these, zcho hear 
 the zvord of God and do it.... Luke viii. 21. 
 
 Looking at thinsjs which are not seen keeps the soul from faint- 
 ing and invigorates it to every holy duty. Do I believe Christ now 
 thinks of me and is this moment pleading my cause in heaven? 
 how then can I live unholy and walk uncomfortable on earth? True, 
 if I did but know that Christ loved me. How do you expect to know 
 it? Do you believe he loved his mother and his brethren after the 
 flesh? It cannot be doubted. See then how near and dear to Christ, 
 in a spiritual sense, are all who hear the word of Cod and do it. 
 They bear Christ in their hearts as tnily as his virgin mother car- 
 ried him in her womb. They are as verily allied to him by faith, 
 are his brethren in spirit, as others wei'c by blood. 1st. To hear 
 the word of God implies, to have such an understanding of it, 
 faith in it, hope from it, and love to it, as to cause our souls to 
 delight in Cod the speaker and our affections to cleave unto him. 
 2d. Paul speaks of tasting the good word of God....Heb. vi. 5. 
 There is a precious savour in the word. To hear it is to have a 
 spiritual relish for it. Just as food is savoury to the palate, so is the 
 word t)f God to the soul. Sd. The word testifies of the word: the 
 letter of the word, of the spirit of the word: the written word, of 
 the essential word ; even the Lord Jesus. God speaks in tlie word 
 of Christ, by Christ, and of himself in Christ. Therefore to hear 
 the word of (iod, is to receive Christ into the heart by faith, to 
 know the leather's love in him, and to expect full and final salvation 
 by him. 4th. There is a still and small voice, in which our beloved 
 speaks internally, the words of his gospel. He says, "My sheep 
 hear my voice." We know the voice of our shepherd. It is the 
 delight of our souls to hear him. Is this all? Do we only hear? 
 Arc the brethren and sisters of Christ all ear only ? No; blessed be 
 God, we are born again by the word of God....l Pet. i. 2J. There- 
 fore we not only hear tlu; word of God, but do it. What is implied 
 in this? That God's precepts are regarded by us, as well as his pro- 
 mises to us. The one being fulfilled in us, causes the other to be 
 dear to us. In one word, where there is a heart to hear the word 
 of God there is a desire to do the will of God. These are insepa- 
 rable. Let us not deceive ourselves. "This is his commandment, 
 that we should believe on the name of bis Son Jesus Christ, and 
 love one another....! John iii. 23. In believing we have everlasting 
 life....John vi. 40. In loving we enjt)y the comforts of it....2 Cor. 
 vi..6. In doing the will of God, we evidence that we are born of 
 God.... I John ii. 17. O, may the word of Christ dwell in us richly, 
 in all wisdom, Sec... Col. iii. 16. 
 
16 JANUARY IS. 
 
 If'hcH she :cas come to Solvinon, she communed zii/h him, of 
 all that teas in her heart... A Kings x. 2. 
 
 Bkhold a rare instance of sovereign grace. A king and queen 
 met to talk of the things of God. Human pomp and worldly 
 grandeur do not always shut the heart against the grace of Cod, 
 "Though not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not 
 many noble are called."....! Cor. i. 26. Yet it pleases our Saviour to 
 call some. He chooses one and another of the wise, mighty and 
 poble, to bow to his grace, honor his name, and shine as distin- 
 guished lights in the world. But in general the gospel runs most 
 and thrives best among the poor. " Hearken, my beloved, hath not 
 God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the 
 kingdom ?".... James ii. 5. Here is a visit paid by a happy queen to 
 9. wise king. They were both wise and happy, for they were wise 
 unto salvation. 1st. See the cause of her visit. She heard of 
 Solomon's fame concerning the name of the Lokd. This is the 
 most noble of all fame. Most blessed, when that is the first and 
 chief spring of all our concerns. But, behold a greater than Solo- 
 mon is here. The fame of King Jesus is proclaimed all through the 
 scriptures. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and know- 
 Iedge."....Col. ii. 3. Yet how fev/ of rich and poor seek unto him? 
 Awful ! this royal q\icen, our Lord declares, shall rise up in judg- 
 ment with and condemn all such... .Matt. xii. 42. PJost happy those 
 who seek unto Jesus. 2d. See the end of her visit, ''to prove him 
 with hard questions." Most probable w ith intricate cases of con- 
 science which concerned the peace of her soul. Most happy, to have 
 free access to Jesus, to pour out our hearts before him and to tell 
 him of our doubts and sorrows. Not moi-e free and open was Solo- 
 mon's heart to hear and answer htr hard questions than the friend 
 of sinners is to all who come unto him. Sd. She communed with 
 him of ALL that was in her heart. O, it is well with, and well for 
 us to lay all open before our Lord, and to keep back no temptation 
 however vile, beastly and devilish. He knows what is in us. He 
 likes wf should confess it unto him. 4th. What was the efiect of 
 this visit? joy and rapture. "There was no more spirit in her." 
 She was wi'apt in ccstacy. She cries, "One half was not told me: 
 it exceeds the fame which I heard." One sight of Jesus by faith, 
 one whisper from his loving heart will cause this. O, let us more and 
 more meditate upon the fame of Christ, and prove it from hour to 
 hour in looking to him, seeking him, calling on him, and living upon 
 him, till we reign with him in heaven. Then, in the highest ecstacy 
 wc slmll Bay, not one half of thy gloi y, O Jcsu, has been told us. 
 
JANUARY 22* n 
 
 Whosoever abidelh in him sinneth not.... \ John iii. 6. 
 
 Beware, O my soul, of licentious spirits, who make Christ a 
 minister of sin, instead of a Saviour from all sin. For such are 
 strangers to the sweet experience of abiding in Christ, whereby sin 
 is dethroned in the heart, the power of it subdued in the life, and 
 holiness maintained in the soul. To abide in Christ is to continue 
 to believe in, and rest upon him, as the dwelling of our souls. 
 "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.".... 
 Psalm xc. 1. This is the claim and confession of the faithful. Ask 
 a believer, where dwellest thou ? he will reply, on my own freehold, 
 my Father's patrimony, where my treasure is, in Christ. Such 
 an one sinneth not. What I never sin in thought, word, or deed? 
 Has he BO sin in him? This state is the earnest desire of his soul. 
 Verily he doth not abide in Christ Avho doth not long for it. But 
 &o far from being in it, that every believer feels he is a lump of sin, 
 knows that nothing but sin dwells in his flesh, finds if left to himself, 
 he can do nothing but sin. Yet he sinneth not. 1st. He abides in 
 the truth. He cannot so sin as to lie against the truth, and say " I 
 have no sin." 2d. So as to reject the record of truth, that eternal 
 life is in Christ, and make the Ciod of truth u liar. For he believes, 
 that free remission of sin and full justification Unto eternal life, is 
 by the blood and righteousness of Christ only. od. As a new 
 creature in Christ he sinneth not. He lives above the power of sin, 
 hates all sin, walks contrary to sin, and strives against every sin* 
 4th. He sinneth not, as under the law of works, for he is under the 
 grace of Christ. Though sin lives and rages in his flesh, yet he 
 lives not in sin. He is dead to sin. Sin reigns not over him. Of 
 every evil (let who will abuse it, at the peril of his soul) he may say 
 with Paul: "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in 
 ine."....Rom. vii. 17. 5th. He sinneth not as the ungodly do or 
 as he himself did while unregenerate. Then the whole man, spirit, 
 soul and body loved sin, wilfully and habitually committed sin with 
 enmity against God. But now the least sin is his grief. The very 
 motions of sin his distress. Lastly, he sinneth not to the damnation 
 of his soul; for there is no, not one condemnation against him, as 
 he is in Christ Jesus. And he is kept by the power of God unto 
 salvation. O, precious abiding of faith ! Victory over every enemy 
 is sure ; " for we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved 
 us.".. ..Rom. viii. 37. 
 
 Stand up my soul, shake off thy fears, What tho* thine inward iur.ts rebel ] 
 And gird the gospel-armour on ; 'Tis but a struggling gasp for lite ; 
 
 Marbh to the gates of endless joy, The weapons of victorious grace 
 
 Where thy great captain Saviour's gone. Shall slay thy sins and «nU thy strif«. 
 
 Vol. H. D 
 
26 . JANUARY 23. 
 
 Thou shall swear the Lord livcth....Jer. iv. 2. 
 
 A RF.BF.L under an attainder, a malefactor under sentence of 
 death, cannot be sworn to give evidence in any court* Such is thy 
 case, O sinner. Thou art naturally under an attainder as a rebel 
 against the King of kings ; and art under sentence of death by the 
 law of God. But, if an earthly monarch by a royal act of sovereign 
 mercy forgives a rebel, and pardons a malefactor, they are then good 
 evidences in court. So it is with thee, O believer; thy attainder is 
 taken off, thy pardon is passed under the broad seal of heaven, by a 
 sovereign act of thy gracious Lord. But, never forget the love of 
 Jesus who obtained this for thee. Well, now thy Lord challenges 
 thee: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord."....Isa. xliii. 10. He 
 subpoenas us into court. He commands us, ye shall swear. The 
 Lord, in our days of ignorance, got great dishonor from us, by our 
 taking his holy and sacred name in vain : if not by profane oaths 
 and horrid imprecations, (which alas! few have been free from) 
 yet in many other ways. Now we are pardoned by him and returned 
 to him, he will get honor and glory from us. Swearing an oath is, 
 1st. for the confirmation of the truth: 2d. to put an end to all 
 $trife....Heb. vi. 16. Christian attend to the form of thy oath: thou 
 shalt swear the Lord liveth : can you swear this in truth from your 
 own knowledge? Hearsay evidence cannot be admitted in any court. 
 O, but if thy heart is quickened and turned to the Lord, if thou 
 believest in the Son of God, verily thou canst give sure evidence 
 that the Lord liveth. The Lord Jesus liveth in thee by fa4th. Thou 
 hast fellowship with him who saith, " I am he that liveth and was 
 dead, and behold I am alive for ever more, Amen, and have the 
 keys of hell and of death.".. ..Rev. i. 18. Solemnly attest, and 
 steadily persist in this truth, in the presence of angels and men. 
 Confirm it by thy solemn oath before tlie judge of all. So shall it 
 put an end to all strife in thy own conscience. As surely as the 
 Lord hath quickened thy spirit, he liveth to save thy soul to the 
 uttermost. Honor thy Lord by thy sacred testimony to his life 
 and life-giving influence. Record thy solemn oath to thy Lord in 
 the court of conscience; produce it against the false accusations 
 and lying evidence of satan. Fulfil thy Lord's word : unto me every 
 knee shall bow, every tongue sliall swear. " In the Lord have 1 
 righteousness and strength. "....Isa. xlv. 24. 
 
 Lamb of God, in thee we trust, Hcav'n and eart>i shall pass away, 
 
 i)n ihy fix'd love deptnd : But thy word shall firm abide: 
 
 Thou art faithful, true and just, That's thy children's stedfast stay. 
 
 And lovcbt to the end. When all things fail beside. 
 
JANUARY 24. 27 
 
 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people sailh your God....Isa. 
 xl. 1. 
 
 1st. Who are the people of God? I am of that number, saith 
 •ne, " for I feel my heart as full of comfort as ever it can hold." 
 It may be so. Then this text is not for thee. But it will do thee 
 no harm to examine into the nature of thy comforts, the tendency 
 of them, and how thou camest by them. Saith another, " I am sure 
 I cannot think myself one of the people of Ciod." Why not? 
 *' Because instead of the comforts of God's children, I have con- 
 tinual sorrow and conflicts, am oppressed by satan, harassed with 
 temptations, proan under a body of sin and death, and dread after all 
 that I shall perish in my sins throui^h unbelief." Thou art the very 
 person, one of the happy number of the Lord's people of whom 
 he here speaks. He describes his people as poor and afflicted who 
 trust in his name....Zeph. iii. 12. What is his holy and blessed 
 will concerning you ? Why, 2d. That you should be comforted. He 
 knows your sorrows. He sees you want comfort. He therefore 
 commands it to be administered unto you. This is a commission 
 peculiarly directed to the Lord's ministers. I am not honored with 
 that high calling: yet the Lord may graciously condescend to ad- 
 minister comfort by means of so weak and mean a wretch as L 
 For Paul says to private christians, "comfort one anothkr with 
 these words.".... 1 Thess. iv. 18. Therefore it is our duty. The 
 Lord succeed us in It. Mind then, thou poor sorrowful sinner, who 
 art afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted: behold thy 
 Lord is mindful of thee. Take notice of the love of his heart, ih© 
 sounding of his bowels over thee and the vehemence he speaks with 
 concerning thee ; comfort, comfort. Thou hast sorrow upon 
 sorrow in thyself. Here is comfort upon comfort from thy Lord. 
 He is the God of all comforts. He would have thy soul to be com- 
 forted. Nay, look not within to find any cause why thy Lord should 
 have such love to thee, or concern for thee. The cause lies in his 
 own loving heart. He freely gave his Son for thee, he freely pro- 
 mises his Spirit to thee, he commands comfort, comfort to be spoken 
 to thee. Now, wilt thou go and indulge thy besetting sin of unbe- 
 lief, and say after all this, " ray Lord careth not for me, he hath 
 forgotten to be gracious unto me?" O, rather bring that bosom sin- 
 of unbelief to ihy Lord: beg of him to slay its power, that it 
 dishonor him no more by disbelieving his precious word: for ho 
 saith, " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not 
 have compassion upon the son of her womb? Yea they may forget, 
 yet will I not forj^ct thee....Isa. xlix. 1 j. 
 
28 JANUARY 25. 
 
 O death, tvherc is thy sting ? O grave, ivhere is thy vic- 
 tory? ...A Cor. XV. o5. 
 
 Says a celebrated poet, "all men think all men mortal but 
 themselves." True there is a natural propensity in us so to think; 
 but new-born souls not only know they are mortal, dying creatures, 
 but in the exercise of grace they can indulge the thoughts of death 
 with pleasing reflections. For death is not only a conquered enemy 
 by the captain of our salvation; but he is also enumerated in the 
 catalogue of our blessings. " Death is yours:" yours to deliver you 
 from all your evils of sin, sorrow and temptations: yours to intro- 
 duce you into the presence of your God and Saviour, and into the 
 enjoyment of all the glory and blessedness of his kingdom. But 
 death has a sting and the grave a victory: this sting is sin: and 
 what gives strength to sin and victory over the sinner, is the law : 
 that darts the sting into us and so fixes it in us, that for any thing 
 we can do, we must feci its poisonous sting to all eternity. But, 
 " Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from 
 Bozrah? This, who is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the great- 
 ness of his strength?" He answers, " I that speak in righteousness 
 mighty to save."....Isa. Ixiii. 1. It is tliat glorious warrior: our 
 almighty conqueror Jesus, who has disarmed death of his sting and 
 obtained a compleat victory over the grave: do you ask what is this 
 to us? Why truly we can draw no comfort from it, unless we be- 
 lieve in him and look upon his victories as obtained for us : thus 
 viewing our triumphant, risen, ascended Saviour, we shall be enabled 
 in the confidence of faith to &ay, " O death, where is thy sting?" 
 Thou hast lost it in the flesh of Christ j by his death he hath de- 
 prived thee of it ; through death he hath destroyed him who had 
 the power of death, that is the devil ; and delivers them who, 
 through fear of death, were all their life time subject to bondage.... 
 Heb. ii. 14, 15. Art thou in bondage through fear? who holds thee 
 under it? Thy worst enemy the devil: by -what means? unbelief: 
 Because thou dost not believe thy best friend, thy dear Redeemer. 
 Dost thou say I would believe, but cannot : what ? canst thou not 
 believe thy Lord? He says to all thy questioning doubts, " I spkak 
 IN righteousness:" I have wrought out and brought in an ever- 
 lasting righteousness, to clothe your naked soul and to make you 
 stand before the throne of God perfect and entire, lacking nothing. 
 Believe this, and triumph over sin and death. Mighty to save. 
 Can the power of sin, death and hell withstand my might? Look 
 unto mc and be saved from thy bondage and fear. Receive his word : 
 rejoice in the comfort of it: Christ hath fulfilled it; "O death, I will 
 be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction. "....Hos. xiii. 14. 
 
JANUARY 26. 29 
 
 Is his mercij clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for 
 ever more ?....Fsiiim Ixxvii. 8. 
 
 It is one thing for God to desert, and another to disinherit: the 
 former he frequently does by his children : the latter he never did 
 to any one of them : he may change in his conduct to them, but never 
 in his love for them. That is a sweet expostulation of the Lord's, 
 "how shall I give thee up Ephraim?"....Hos. xi. 8. It reminds one 
 of the tender alHection of a loving father to a disobedient son, with 
 a pen in his hand, just going to execute a deed to disinherit him ; 
 but love pleads, his fatherly bowels yearn, his heart melts. Though 
 he is disobedient, yet he is iMV child, my heir, the son of my loins. 
 
 1 cannot give him up; I cannot cut him off; I will not do it. The 
 love of (iod to his children infinitely exceeds that of the most tender 
 parent. He allows there may be such monsters in nature for a mother 
 not to have compassion on the son of her womb ; but, says the Lord, 
 " I will never forget thee."....Isa. xlix. 1 5. " For, he will rest, or be 
 silent in his love."....Zeph. iii. 17. Though thou dost not hear the 
 voice of comfort, and the melody of joy, yet his love is the same. 
 He cannot change. " God is love.".... I Johniv. 8. Nothing but 
 love to his people in Christ; therefore it is impossible for his mercy 
 to be clean gone, or his promise ever to fail. It Mas of his rich 
 mercy and great love, that he quickened us when dead in sins....Eph. 
 ii. 4, 5. Therefore we cannot pcrisji for want of mercy. "God's pro- 
 mises are all in Christ Jesus, Yea and Amen, to his own glory." 
 
 2 Cor. i. 20. Therefore, God would lose the glory of his truth if 
 one of them should fail. O, why then should any poor sinner thus 
 question his mercy and his promise? Take shame to thyself; say 
 with the Psalmist: " It is my infirmity." No marvel, if under in- 
 firmities, you call in question the mercy and truth of a faithful cove- 
 nant God ; that you should question your own state, and think you 
 are not a vessel of mercy, antl that not one promise is for you. 
 But your very questionings, fears and concerns shew it; the dead 
 in sin look not for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eter- 
 nal life; unregencrate souls see nothing of the exceeding great and 
 precious promises which are in Christ Jesus ; they have no concern 
 about them. O, therefore, instead of questioning God's mercy, plead 
 it. Own this as thy sin to doubt of it. Instead of doubting 
 his promises, look at them, glory in them, give God the glory of 
 them. Stagger not at the promise through unbelief. " Be strong 
 in faith and give glory to God.".... Rom. iv. 20, 
 
30 JANUARY 27. 
 
 If in tills life only ive have hope in Christy wc arc of all 
 men most miserable.... \ Cor. xv. 19. 
 
 Here is a supposition, and a consequence drawn from it. Con- 
 sider, 1st. This hope in Christ: it is not common to all inen; it 
 is a precious i^race of the holy Spirit ; it springs from faith in Christ ; 
 it looks to the promises in Christ, and is nourished and supported 
 by them. It is a mvkly hopk, we are "begotten again to it, ac- 
 cording to the abundant mercy of God our Father, by the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ from the dead.".... 1 Peter i. 3. I3y it we are 
 made to differ from all other men, who though they niay talk of 
 hope in God, yet have no hope, but are without Christ and with- 
 out God in the world. ...Ephes. ii. 12. Here is the proof of it. 
 "Every man who hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he 
 is pure."....l John iii. 3. Mind, Christ is the object of this hope, 
 it is IN, or ON Christ. The man who is the subject of it, purifies 
 himself. How? By the blood of Chrisi, and by the grace of Christ. 
 From what? From all sin: from the love of this world: from the 
 pomps and vanities of it. He lives not in them ; he walks not after 
 them; he hates them; he despises them ; hope on Christ springs 
 up in his heart; that kills the love of the world in him. 2d. What 
 is it to have hope in this life onlv? To have our prospect bounded 
 by the narrow limits of time and sense : to take up with the joys and 
 pleasures of the present world; to set our affections on them, and 
 seek all our happiness in them, w ithout looking after and longing for 
 the invisible glories of abetter world. 3d. Why then are we of all men 
 the most miseral)Ie ? 1st. Because we are new creatures in Christ; 
 we have a new and spiritual nature in and from him; M'e have com- 
 munion and fellowship with him; therefore, we cannot enjoy the 
 pleasures, honors and riches of this world as other men do: we are 
 *' crucified to the world. "....Gal. vi. 14. 2d. We are miserable from 
 tlie malice, hatred, and persecution of the men of the world for our 
 hope in Christ. Sd. We are miserable fron) the burden of a body 
 of sin, which others feel not: from the fiery darts of satan, which at 
 others he shoots not: the workings of unbelief, which others find not: 
 that we ever offend the Lord, which others care not for: that we 
 caiinot perfectly and perseveringly obey his will in all things, which 
 others concern not themselves about: that ever the Lord hides his 
 face and deserts our souls, M'hich others know nothing of. From 
 these ancVinnumerable other things, christians of all other men are 
 most miserable. Hut, () Ijlessed hope in CJu'ist: "He is our hope." 
 ....I Tim. i. 1. While Jesus lives our hope lives. Time with all 
 its changes cantiot frustrate it: death with all its terrors cannot de- 
 stroy it : eternity with all its glories will bo the end and fruition of it» 
 
JANUARY 28. 31 
 
 Tlie wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all un- 
 godliness and unrighteousness of men. ...Rom. i. 18. 
 
 One sin ruined the whole race of Adam; it brought curse and 
 wrath upon every soul of man. Every man that ever lived, that 
 BOW lives, and that ever shall live upon this earth, is by nature a 
 child of wrath, and the wrath of CJod is revealed from heaven 
 against his sin, not one soul excepted. How is this wrath revealed? 
 Isi. At the giving the holy law on Mount Sinai.... Exod. xix. There 
 the Lord revealed ail the terror and glory of his majesty, as the 
 most holy, sin-hating Cod. O, think of the mount that burned 
 with fire, the blackness, darkness and tempest : the awful sound of 
 the trumpet: the terrible voice of words, which ti.ey who heard, 
 entreated they srliould not lie spoken any more ; and so terrible was 
 the sight, that evt:n Moses said, "I exceedinp;ly fenr and quake.".... 
 Heb. xii. 21. O, think of this, and think not what is called the least 
 sin a little, thing, for it has lighted up the fire of (iod's wrath. 2d. 
 See the wrath of God revealed, in drowning the old world; in burn- 
 ing Sodom and Gomorrah ; in the matter of Korah ; and in his 
 judgments upon the ungodly in all ages. "God is angn*' with the 
 wicked every day. ".... Psalm vii. 11. The fire of his wrath and 
 indignation ever smokes against all sin. Remember tliis and he 
 watchful. 3d. Reflect on the wrath of God revealed from hea- 
 ven, when he took vengeance on his beloved Son for the sins of 
 his people. See our iniquity-bearing, sin-atoning, curse-sustaining 
 Lamb of God on the cross. There see what sin is ; there view the 
 indignation of God against it ; his justice punishing it, and the awful 
 vengeance he executed upon it. O my soul, think of thy Saviour's 
 inconceivable sufferings for sin. Here see the exceeding sinfulness 
 of sin ; view its crimson dye in the purple gore of the Son of God. 
 Ever think of this, love the Lamb, and strive against all sin ; for, 
 4th. the wrath of God is revealed against sin, even in his own chil- 
 dren. He equally hates their sins, will punish sin in them, and 
 them for sin too. Beware of any doctrine that makes light of sin ; 
 or, as though God has not the same abhorrence of sin, indignation 
 and wrath against sin in his own children as well as others. Do 
 not hold the truth in unrighteousness; never think of reconciling a 
 holy God to abominable sin. 5th. The wrath of God is revealed 
 in the conscience of his people. By the law is the knowledge of sin 
 ....Rom. iii. 20. And the law worketh wrath....Rom. iv. 15. It fills 
 the mind with terrible apprehensions of the wrath of God, and a 
 fearful looking for of his judgment, and fiery indignation against 
 sin. Bless Jesus that his blood ckanseih from all sin ; and lastly, 
 remember the awful day when "God will take vengeance on them 
 who obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ."... .2 Thess. i. 8. 
 
32 JANUARY 29. 
 
 Let us search and try our icays, and turn again to the 
 Lord. ...Lam. iii. 40. 
 
 This book is justly styled) The Lamentations. The dear 
 children of God were now in captivity and deep distress. Jeremiah 
 most pathetically enumerates and laments their great calamities. 
 We shall never get out of this book of Lamentations while in the 
 body. We daily see cause for lamentation on one account and ano- 
 ther; and indeed if we did not, it would be a sad sign that our eyes 
 are blinded by seif-righteous pride, or our hearts hardened through 
 the deceitfulness of sim "As sorrowing, yet always rejoicing," is 
 the christian motto. Times of calamity, and seasons of distress, 
 call for self-examination and soul-searching. This will keep down 
 murmurings and complainiug. 1st. Let us search, look for and 
 enquire after something that may support and comfort us, and teach 
 lis to improve our distress. Soul, let thy circumstances be what 
 they may, thy Lord's advice is ever seasonable. " Search the scrip- 
 tures:" Why? They testify of me.. ..John v. 39. Christ is the 
 head of the covenant: in him the Father loves us: through him his 
 love flows to us. Afflictions flow from covenant love, and shall 
 answer covenant purposes. The scriptures are written for our com- 
 fort. There we find that we have the common lot and inheritance 
 ■with all saints. 2d. Try our ways, by that standard of justice 
 and perfection, the law of God. O, how will this make the sense of 
 sin abound in our eyes! Is the law of God holy? our ways are un- 
 holy. Is the law spiritual? we are carnal, sold under sin. Is 
 the law JUST? our ways are unjust. Is the law good? in us, that 
 is, in our flesh dwells no good. What must we do? Must we sit 
 down in melancholy, give up all hope, and write despair upon our 
 hearts? No, blessed be God; though sin has destroyed us, there 
 is salvation in the Lord for us. 3d. Turn again to the Lord: 
 such is the acting of a gracious heart, having once tasted that the 
 Lord is gracious, and known the precious love of Christ, it cannot 
 be happy in sin ; it cannot bear to live at a distance from the Lord, 
 its life and love. Believing that all our iniquities were laid upon 
 Christ, that he boreT^icm in his own body on the tree, it cannot rest 
 till it again finds pardon in his blood, the peace of God and joy in 
 the Holy Ghost. Bless the Lord, O my soul, for that gracious 
 word, "Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your back- 
 slidingR."....Jer. iii. 22. 
 
 Sin and the pow'rs of hell, RememUer all thy grace, 
 
 I'crMiailc- me to despair ; And lead mc in thy truth, 
 
 J,)r(l make me knn\\' thy cov'nant well, Forgive the sins of riper years, 
 
 'i hat 1 may 'scape tlieir snare. And f<il!ici) of my youth. 
 
JANUARY 30. 33 
 
 Being justified freely by his grace y through the reckmp' 
 tion that is in Christ Jesus. ...Rom. iii. 24. 
 
 Who are in this happy state? Men, apostate men, who hare 
 alike " sinned and come short of the glory of God." But are im- 
 penitent, unbelieving; sinners justified? Who will dare avouch this? 
 Paul fully contradicts it: he expressly says, " the righteousness of 
 God (that one righteousness which God appoints, accepts and 
 approves) which is by faith of Jesus Christ, (received by that faith 
 which Jesus is the author and finisher of....Heb. xii. 2.) is unto all 
 and upon all them who bklikvk. But unbelievers reject this 
 glorious righteousness of Christ ; therefore they are not in a state 
 of justification. Doubtless God had in his heart secret and eter- 
 nal purposes to justify all them who shall believe; therefore he gives 
 them faith in time. Then what was eternally decreed, elfectually 
 takes place in their souls ; then they come as condemned malefactors, 
 to plead this act of free grace at the bar of justice, at the footstool 
 of mercy; and from the ground of their hearts give God the gloiy 
 of it; for God is just, while he is the justifier of him who belikvks 
 IN Jksus. O happy believer in Jesus; thou, even thou, though 
 in thyself a miserable sinner yet art freely justified: thou art as 
 fully freed from all condemnation fur sin as though thou hadst 
 never committed a sin. You are as perfectly righteous before God 
 as if you had never sinned; infinitely more so than if Adam had 
 never fell and you had been born an innocent creature : for you are 
 arrayed with the glorious righteousness of the Jehovah-man, Christ 
 . Jesus. Why are you not always happy and joyful in this? Pride is 
 in your nature: that says it cannot be, I must have some hand in pro- 
 curing it. Legality works in you: that says I nmst perform some 
 condition to obtain it. Unbelief sets itself against it, and says it is 
 impossible it should be true. All the evil that is in your fallen 
 nature opposes free and full justification by the grace of God : it is 
 your grand business to oppose the truth of God against all, and to 
 believe in opposition to all. Fix, O fix your constant eye on the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus; free grace sets that before you: 
 glory only and alone in this ; for by this you are delivered from capti- 
 vity to sin, satan and the law ; and have a full and everlasting title to 
 heaven: all grace and glory comes from free grace through this. 
 O, be strong in faith and give Jesus the glory of this ; and while 
 you look at and glory in your blessed privileges, be careful of your 
 walk: consider how highly you are favored of God, and how you 
 ought in all things to study to please God, and ever fear to offend 
 him; for " God is love.".... I John iv. 8. 
 Vol. II, E 
 
oi JANUARY 51. 
 
 This God is our God for ever and ever : he zvill be our 
 guide even unto death. ...Psalm xlviii. 14. 
 
 Here is, 1st. The joyful claim of faith. This God: just as 
 though the sinner saw hini as visible, pointed to him and exulted in 
 him...." Is our Gotl." It is our special mercy we do not serve an 
 unknown God : our God has manifested himself to us: is known 
 by us : we have felt his sovereign grace and almighty power within 
 us. Hence we own him, come to him, and rejoice in him, as our 
 covenant God in Christ. He -came from heaven to earth to seek 
 and to save us ; he has given us hearts to ascend from earth to 
 heaven: there we view our reconciled God and Father at perfect 
 peace with us : our God Redeemer ever living to save us : our God 
 and comforter bringing the joys of salvation into our hearts, and 
 thereby sanctifying us unto eternal glory : " this our God, ever rests 
 in his love to us."....Zeph. iii. 17. " He will never turn away from 
 us to do us good."....Jer. xxxii. 40. For, 2d. He is " our God for 
 ever and ever:" not only yesterday and to-day, while our frames 
 are warm and lively, and our comforts strong; but through every 
 revolving period of time, and in every distressing circumstance. 
 O, cutting thought, if God were ever to cease to be our God! 
 Some say, God may be our loving God and Father to-day, but to- 
 morrov,' may cast us off" in his wrath and become our implacable 
 enemy for ever. What! does God beget children for the devil? 
 Has Christ redeemed souls by his blood which may be damned in 
 hell ? Does the Spirit quicken and sanctify souls who may inhabit 
 the bottomless pit? O, this is not the language of scripture and 
 faith, but of ignorance and unbelief: it comes from devilish pride, 
 thinking we do something to cause God to be our God: it tends to 
 dreadful presumption, thinking we can do something to keep him 
 our God: it ends in awful desperation; for if we fail on our parts, 
 we lose God and our souls for ever. No: but 3d. O joyful truth; 
 " our God will be our guide even unto death." Then we eannot 
 sin our souls out of his hands ; " for Christ's blood cleanseth from 
 iill sin.".... 1 John i. 7. " We cannot forfeit his mercy, it endureth 
 for ever.".. .. Psalm cvi. 1. " He will guide us into all truth.".... 
 John xvi. 13. His truth forbids all sin: his everlasting love con- 
 strains from it: his promises excite to all holiness; and we are 
 filled with all joy and peace in believing him, when he says, " I 
 will never leave you nor forsake you."....Heb. xiii. 5. 
 
 The God we worship novr Will be our God while here below, 
 
 Will guide us till we die, And ours above the sky. 
 
FEBRUARY 1. 5$ 
 
 And the Lord went his zvay as soon as he had left commun- 
 ing with Abraham, and Abraham retiniied nnto his 
 place. ...Gen. xviii. 33. 
 
 Love is the bond of friendship. Unless love be mutual, friend- 
 ship cannot subsist: the sweets of friendship are enjoyed in free 
 communications: friends are delighted with each other's presence; 
 long absence causes pain: this is true between God and the soul. 
 If you feel concern at the absence of God, you love God; you are 
 a friend of the Lord's : the Lord sioops to earth ; he takes our flesh ; 
 he visits and converses with us as friends: this same Lord communes- 
 with Abraham. Consider, 1st. Abraham v/as a poor sinner as we 
 are; he could no more behold the essential glovy of the Godhead 
 without a mediator, than we can ; nor can God, in his essential glory, 
 as perfectly holy and righteous, di-aw near to fallen man without a 
 mediator, but sudden destruction must be his awfiil doom : therefore 
 it was Jesus the Lord, the sinner's friend, mediator, justifier and 
 Saviour, that communed with Abraham. It is Jcsirs "vtith whom 
 we have to do." "He is the word of God to us."....lleb. iv. 13. 
 This revives and refreshes our dejected spirits. 2d. Though this 
 visit and communion with the Lord was precious, yet it did not lust 
 long. The Lord went his way. Do not you frequently find it 
 so? Christ comes and pays a love-visit to your soul ; he sweetly 
 communes with you ; he warms your heart ; he comforts your soul : 
 it is but for a season; he goes his way ; you cannot but be sorry ; 
 you reckon those moments tedious that intervene between one loving 
 visit and another: you say with the disciples, "Did not my heart 
 burn within me ?".... Luke xxiv. 32. And with others. "O thou 
 hope of Israel the Saviour, why shouldst thou be as a wayfaring man, 
 who tarries but a night l"....Jer. xiv. 8. But faith lives upon Jesus, 
 though sensible comforts are wanting. 3d. Abraham returned to 
 his own place: to the tents in Mxmre: which signifies rebellions 
 or bitter: he must again feel the rebellions, and taste the bitter of 
 his fallen nature: there is love in this as well as in the Lord's visits 
 and communings.. Wisdom prescribes this portion ; love administers 
 it; grace makes it profitable. Says our dear Lord, "What I do 
 thou knowest not now, but thou shall know hereafter."... .John xiii. 7. 
 Our Lord's love is ever the same ; his afiections change not: though 
 he may leave off" communing with thee below, yet he never ceases 
 praying for thee above. This is precious to the faith of our hearts. 
 Do we come unto God by him ? He is able to save us to the utter- 
 most; "he ever lives to make intercession for us."....ilcb. vii. 25. 
 
3'6 FEBRUARY -. 
 
 Godly sorroiv xcorketli repentance unto salvation, not to he 
 repented of.... 2 Cor. vii. ](). 
 
 By legal preaching, setting forth the curses of the law and the 
 terrors of hell, a sinner's conscience may be made to tremble under 
 the dread of damnation; he may be said to repent. "Judas thus 
 repented himself, and said I have sinned." He might be sorry for 
 it; his sin might make his heart ache and fill his soul with horrors: 
 but here was no godly sorrow; God was not in his heart: no repen- 
 tance unto salvation; this was out of his sight: his repentance was 
 unto damnation; for "he went out and hanged himself.".. ..Matt, 
 xxvii. 5. Natural fears and legal terrors may excite sorrow -vnthout 
 the grace of repentance. 1 st. What then is godly sorrow ? It springs 
 from God, it is excited by the views of God, it is directed to God, 
 and arises in the heart on account of God. With David the soul 
 cries, "against thee only have I sinned.".. ..Psalm li. 4. The heart 
 is pierced to the very quick with anguish for having sinned against 
 a God in Christ, a sin-pardoning, a soul-comforting, a most affec- 
 tionate Father. This is the sorrow of faith ; it is grateful to God. 
 2d. "It woRKKTH repentance; it causes the soul to change its 
 mind and its conduct. Its mind. Sin and satan had deceived it: it 
 foolishly fancied there were some sweet charms in sin that could 
 make it quite happy; but it now feels the wormwood and gall of 
 it; it looks at its sin, and looks at its Saviour, and cries, O my Lord 
 and my God, could I ever be so mad as to turn from thee to sin I I 
 lament my folly: Jesus pardon me. Its conduct. Godly sorrow 
 causes the soul to turn away from sin w ith loathing and detestation, 
 and to turn to the Lord with humble faith, holy hope, ardent desire, 
 and earnest cry ; O my Jesu, " restore to me the joy of thy salvation : 
 cast me not aAvay from thy presence; take not thy holy Spirit from 
 me."....Psalm li. 11, 12. Though sin has made me miserable, yet 
 thou, and thou only canst make me happy. 3d. This repentance is 
 unto salvation; it brings the soul to Jesus: "There is salvation in 
 him and in no other.".. ..Acts iv. 12. 4th. This is not to be repent- 
 ed of. O, my soul, canst thou ever change thy mind concerning 
 the precious salvation of Jesus, by repentance vmto life, from a 
 godly sorrow for sin I Beware then of those " fools who make a 
 mock of sin."....Prov. xiv. 9. Of those mad fools who deride godly 
 sorrow for sin, and laugh at all repentance as downright legality : 
 but, says Jesus, "except ye repent, ye shall all perish."....Luke 
 
 'Twas for my sins my dearest Lord, Whilst with a melting broken heart. 
 Hung on the cursed tree, My murder'd Lord I view, 
 
 And groaii'd away a dying life, I'll raise revenge against my sins, 
 For thee, my soul* for thee. And slay the murd'rers too. 
 
FEBRUARY 3. S7 
 
 Speak thou the things zchich become sound doctrine.... 
 Tit. il. 1. 
 
 " Like people, like priest," is a scripture adage. ...IFos. iv. 9. 
 Professors generally catch the same mind of the minister they sit 
 \inder. Our Lord advises, "take heed what you hear."... .Matt. iv. 24. 
 The seeds of all heresies are in our nature; they are sooner learned 
 than sound doctrine : hence Paul's jealousy of, and advice to Titus ; 
 he Mas not only to preach sound doctrine, but the things also which 
 become it. Sound doctrine is to be highly prized, yet it is not to l)e 
 alone, (iood as it is to have a sound judt^ment in the doctrines of 
 grace, yet we are ever to consider, they are all according to and pro- 
 motive of G0DI.INKSS. They are all of a practical and experimental 
 nature: productive of love in the heart and holiness in the life: 
 many err here : some make little of sound doctrine : they cry out, 
 away with your doctrines, give us practical holiness ; these cast con- 
 tempt upon the word of truth, and impeach the wisdom of the Spirit 
 of truth, in revealing the doctrines of the grace of the everlasting co- 
 venant ; however they may talk of Christ, yet they lightly esteem the 
 truth as it is in him. From such turn away : " for the law of the 
 Lord is perfect converting the soul ; the testimony of the Lord is sure 
 making wise the simple : the statutes (or doctrines) of the Lord arc 
 right rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure 
 enlightening the eyes," Sec... .Psalm xix. 7, 8. Again, there are 
 others who think and speak of nothing but doctrines : they care 
 nothing about the things which become sound doctrines, such as 
 a self-denied life, a holy walk, a careful abstaining from the very 
 appearance of eril, living in the exercise of spiritual grace, and 
 in the discharge of every christian duty, striving to " adorn the 
 doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. "....Tit. ii. 10. Alas! 
 it is common to see such: like the wild ass they snuff up the wind 
 of doctrine, bray it over, while their hearts are as cold and dead to 
 spiritual communion with Christ and the life and power of godliness, 
 as the world which licth in wickedness : beware of such. Chris- 
 tianity is life as well as truth ; the gospel is to be experienced in its 
 power, as well as believed in its word; Christ is to be lived upon by 
 faith and lived to by love, as well as talked of with the tongue. O, 
 let us not be content with a form of sound words in our heads; but 
 let us cry earnestly and constantly to our Lord, for the life and 
 power of them in our hearts to influence our lives ; so shall we from 
 precious, heart-felt experience joyfully say, " truly our fellowship 
 i-s with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.".... 1 John i. 3. 
 
S3 FEBRUARY i. 
 
 He tcilt reprove (or convince) the zvorld of sin.... John, 
 xvi. 8. 
 
 Has tlie Spirit so convinced, so reproved j'ou of sin, of the 
 curse of the law for sin, of the wrath of God revealed against all 
 sin; and of that sin of sins, unbelief, that whosoever lives and dies 
 in, is under the wrath of God; so that you have fled for refuge to 
 Jesus, and have taken shelter in his woimds to be saved from all sin? 
 Then you are blessed; your soul is safe; your salvation is sure : 
 the Spirit has glorified Christ in your eyes and to yourheai't; and 
 Christ will glorify your soul with him in his own kingdom. Is not 
 the Spirit rightly styled the comfortkr ? Did he not act the part 
 of a comforter, even in convincing of sin? What if your heart was 
 broken and bled for sin, yet it was that you might be comforted with 
 the love and made joyful in the salvation of Jcsus» But having thus 
 convinced you of sin and brx>ught you to Christ for salvation, has 
 tlie Spirit done with you ? Is his work at an end upon you ? O, no.^ 
 " He is promised to abide with us for ever."....John xiv. 16. He 
 always carries on the same work, to convince of sin : he is always 
 the comfoiter, to testify of the Saviour...rand in both he maintains 
 the character of the Holy Spirit. Why da little thinga pain you ? 
 Sonje to keep up the notion of sinless perfection call them things 
 FOT KXACTLY RIGHT ; which you cannot, dare not hut look on as 
 SINS of your nature. Why do you see, fqel and mourn over your- 
 self as a lump of sin ? Why arc you sensible that you sin in thought, 
 word and deed, and that you can do nothing perfectly ; that sin is in 
 all you do, and that wlien you would do good evil is present \ Why 
 is \i that you hate all sin, abhor yourself, and humble yourself as a 
 poor sinner from day to day before the Lord? Why is all this, but 
 because the Spirit of truth is within and convinces you of sin, and 
 cuts off all hope ii> yourself on account of it? But docs he leave 
 you comfortless ? Though he teaches you to sec and say, what 
 though all I am is sin, yet you can add, " this does not break my 
 peace." No; he convinces you also of utoHTtousNtss : that 
 Christ's righteousness is yours, and that he is your peace. Of 
 judgment: that the judgment of God is according to truth 
 " that he is just, and the justifier of the ungodly who believe in 
 Jesus."....Rom. iv. 5.. ..so that now you live the life of faith, above 
 the power of sin. Bless the eternal Spirit, O my souJ ; for I can 
 joyfully sing, 
 
 A guilty, weak and lielpleis worm, Thou art my strength, my righteousness, 
 Into ihy arms I fall, ~ My Jesus, anil my all. 
 
FEBRUARY 5. 39 
 
 He zvho is zcashed, necdctli not save to wash his feet, hut is 
 clean every zvhit: and ye are clean. ...John xm. 10. 
 
 How precious is the word of the Lord I Being in great disorder 
 of body and heaviness of soul, our Lord refreshed and comforted me 
 with these v.ords. Here Christ most plainly teaches us these bles- 
 sed truths, 1st. That every believer is washed by him from the filth 
 of all his sins. ?d. That each and every one are equally and alike 
 perfectly clean from all sin in God's sight, not having spot or wrinkle, 
 or any such thing....Eph. v. 27. Justified fmm all things before 
 God.... Acts. xiii. 39. There is not one condemnation against them 
 from God.. ..Rom. viil. 1. Therefore, 3d. They need no other clean- 
 sing to make them acceptable to God, pure in his sight, mete to 
 come into his presence now and to enjoy him to all eternity. Rejoice, 
 O my fellow sinners, and then too my soul, in a lowly, self-abasing, 
 disciple- washing, sin-cleansing Jesus. He says, (let carnal reason, 
 legal spirits, and lying salan, suggest what they may), clf.aic 
 EVERY whit: ye are clean. Blessed Spirit, who broughtest us 
 into this precious state ; O, cause this glorious truth to shine in our 
 hearts this night in all its glory and comfort: eternal thanks to thee 
 for faith to receive it: glory to the Son of God whose precious blood 
 cleanseth from all sin....l John i. 7. But, though every whit 
 clean; though perfectly cleansed by Christ; yet he knows, and we 
 find that we are daily prone to defile our feet: to him we must come 
 for cleansing from the polhuion of our daily walk and conversation. 
 Faith has daily to do with a purifying Saviour: but beware that we 
 ascribe not that cleansing virtue to the grace of faith which is only 
 in the blood of Christ. See what blessed news Peter's mistaken 
 humility in refusing Christ to wash his feet brought from our Lorti's 
 lips to our hearts. View the love of a gracious, condescending Lord. 
 Did he stoop so low as to wash his disciple 's feet ? and will he ever 
 be above washing the fresh contracted guilt of his dear members 
 who come unto him? No: harbour not such a dishonoring thought 
 of his love: he knows, he tells us we need washing of our feet that 
 we may walk clean and comfortable before him. O, let us come 
 humbly to him and rejoice that Christ is that fountain opened, and 
 that his precious blood has a continual virtue to cleanse from all sin 
 and uncleanness....Zech. xiii, I. 
 
 The fountain of Clirist Tlus fountain from guilt 
 
 Assist me to sing, Not only makes pure, 
 
 'The blood of our priest. And gives soon as felt 
 
 Our crucify d King: Infallible cure : 
 
 • Which peifectly cleanses But if guilt venioved. 
 
 From sin and from Hlih, Return and remain, 
 
 And richly dispenses Its pow'r may be proved 
 
 Salvation and health. Again and again. 
 
40 FEBRL'ARV 6. 
 
 Adorn Ihc docirinc of God our Saviuur in all Ihings.... 
 Tit. ii. 10. 
 
 What pains and expcncc arc we at to adorn our bodies, vhiciv 
 must shortly turn to ignoble dust ; and our dwellings, which must 
 soon be burnt up with lire? and shall we not study and take pains 
 to adorn the precious doctrine of our loving God and Saviour in our 
 lives? Let gay cloathing and genteel furniture reprove us for, and 
 remind us of this duty. Let us not be like asses with long ears to 
 hear doctrines, but slow of feet to walk in the ways of holiness. 
 To avoid legality let us not run into licentiousness : this awfully 
 prevails amongst professors in our day : they incessantly dwell on 
 doctrines ; but if you aim to reduce them into experience and prac- 
 tice, they cry out, O, you are as legal as an Arminian. This is 
 really like one who should receive food into his mouth, chew it for 
 a season, and then spit it out again ; but as it passed not into the 
 stomach to be digested, the body is not nourished by it : so revolving 
 doctrines in the head, rolling them upon the tongue and not digest- 
 ing them in the heart, leaves the soid in a lean, starving condition 
 from day to day. What is truth in the head without fellowship 
 with Christ, who is thk tiu th, in the heart? Christ felt and enjoyed 
 in the power of faith and the fellowship of the Spirit, will cause 
 souls to study to adorn his doctrine : there will be a cry in such 
 hearts, O, what can I do for him who has done all for me, and is 
 all in all to me ? It is the essential doctrine of Christ, that every 
 believer in him is a son of God and an heir of glory : we are called 
 to enjoy the comfort of this and to walk agreeable to this holy faith 
 in all things : the duty is ours ; the power is of God : but if the 
 love of the world reigns in our hearts, if the riches of the world 
 engross our time, if the pleasures of the world possess our afi'cc- 
 tions, if the vanities of the world are our pursuits, how does it ap- 
 pear that we are the children of God, are concerned for his glory, 
 that we strive to adorn his gospel or are looking to him for power to 
 do it ? No wonder if the frame of our hearts, the temper of our 
 minds, and the conduct of our lives, instead of adorning the doc- 
 trhic of Christ bring discredit upon it : then we shall live in doubt 
 and die in distress. O, remember this woid of the Lord, " Them 
 who honor nic, I will honor, and ihcy who despise me, shall be 
 lightly esteemed."....! Sam. ii. 30. 
 
 l.rird make our lips and lives cxincss Thus shall wc best procliiin abroad, 
 
 Tlif- holy gospel we profess; The honors cf our Saviour God: 
 
 So let our works and graces shim*, When ihy salvation reigns within. 
 
 To prove the doctrine ail divine. And grace subdueithe pow'rof sin. 
 
FEBRUARY r. 41 
 
 Love not the world.... \ John ii. 15. 
 
 There is one word too much in this text to make it at^reeable 
 to the spirit and conduct of many professors. As Pharoah said by 
 the locusts, "Take away from me this death only."....Exod. x. 18. 
 So many may say, take away this not only, for it is death to us; 
 then we shall like the text, and most passionately obey its command, 
 iovE THE WORLD. Docs it uot secni by the conduct of too many as 
 though they thus read the text ? Now, do not look at Mr. Such-an- 
 one. Look at home. See if you are not the very person, in whom | 
 the love of the world reigns. Ydu own it. But instead of falling 
 under conviction of the evil of it, you have an excuse for it. You 
 say, "I have a large family; I ought to get a fortune for them; 
 though I have some riches, 1 must get more ; I must love, court, 
 and follow the ways of the world ; there is nothing to be done with- 
 out industry ; we must rise early, late take rest, eat the bread of 
 carefulness, and be all day long in pursuit of business." Very well : 
 this is open and honest : the very language of the world. But do 
 you not see gross infidelity stare you in the face ? It is plain where 
 your treasure is, there your heart is also. You know you cannot, 
 you dare not say, the Lord is my portion : what is there upon earth 
 I desire besides thee I Hear the apostle's decision and treml)le : '' If 
 any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him :" two 
 such contrary loves cannot dwell in one heart. It matters not what 
 profession such make : they may be deemed saints of God. What I 
 without the love of God in their, hearts ? ^Vhat other idea can we 
 form of a devil, but that he is destitute of the love of God ? St. 
 Jarries says, "a friend of this world is an enemy of God. "....James 
 iv. 4. Well might St. Paul say, "The love of money is the root 
 of all evil;" for like a stinking weed it chokes the love of God in 
 the heart. See the reason of this exhortation, love not the world; 
 examine, whether your pursuits are most earnest after the world, to 
 get more riches, or to enjoy more of the love of God in your heart: 
 consider your calling: it is to be happy in the love of God in Christ: 
 but the love of the world opposes this, and indisposes for this ; there* 
 fore we must be crucified unto the world. Hard as this is to llesh and 
 blood, yet faith in Christ makes all things possible: love to Christ 
 makes all things easy: "This is the victory which overcomcth the 
 world, even our faith.".... 1 John. v. 4. "The love of Christ con- 
 straineth us."....2 Cor. v. 14. 
 
 Thy wondrous blood, deardyinc^ Christ, O, might I now mount up and see 
 Can make this world of sin remove, The glories ot" th' eternal skies, [be, 
 Andthou canst bear me where thou fly 'st What little things these worlds >vo»ild 
 .On thy kind wings, celestial dove. How despicable to my eyes. 
 
 Vol. II. F 
 
42 FEBRUARY s. 
 
 A certain man icent down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and 
 fell among thieves, &!c....Liike x. 30. 
 
 An awful down-hill journey ! Here is a true picture of the woe- 
 ful backsliding of a believer from his Lord. 1st. "He went down 
 from Jerusalem," which signifies the visions of peace: these are 
 enjoyed by faith, in communion with Christ and close walking with 
 God : when these arc departed from, it is going down indeed ; the 
 Avay of sin is down hill ; the descent is easy ; the event dreadful : it 
 is going down fiom the delectable mountains into the dreary vale 
 of Jericho; this place Avas cursed by Joshua.. ..vi. 26. It was very 
 wicked in the days of Christ, so is this present world now. 2d. 
 " He fell among thieves," so does the believer when he gives up 
 himself to sinful company, vain delights and carnal diversions : the 
 Kist of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, steal his 
 heart from God and strip him of his raiment of purity and peace. 
 3d. " They wounded him :" O the dreadful stabs which sin and apos- 
 lacy give to the believer's heart and conscience ! 4th. " Departed from 
 him:" having robbed the believer of his comfort in God, now the 
 sense of carnal joys also forsake him; he cannot find those mighty 
 pleasures in sin v.hich it promised him. 5th. "Leaving him half 
 dead:" not totally dead to God, nor wholly alive to sin; he can be 
 happy in neither: awful state! But there is still a spark of spiritual 
 life in his soul: this, all the devils in hell nor all the men on earth 
 can never quench. But now, O what misery he feels! What 
 wounds, pains, and griefs he groans under ? What loss does he de- 
 plore ? 6th. "The priest and the Levite pass by on the other side:" 
 the law can neither ease nor cure him : it curses, condemns and leaves 
 him : but lastly, who is he that says, " I will heal their backslidings, 
 and love them freely ?".... Hos. xiv. 4. O, it is the good Samaritan; 
 ihe precious, ever loving friend of sinners. He came where he Avas ; 
 he saw him and had compassion on him; he bound up his wounds, 
 pouring in the oil of his precious grace and the wine of his heavenly 
 love, and took care of him. O my soul, dread the danger of such 
 a journey : highly esteem the visions of peace; remember Jericho; 
 forget not the snares of this wicked world ; beware of thieves ; ne- 
 ver, never forget the compassion of the good Samaritan; bless him 
 for his sympathizing heart: he is "touched with a feeling of our 
 infirnnlies."....Heb. iv. 15. 
 
 Sin's promis'd joys aie turn'd to pain, Wretch that I am to wander thus 
 And I am drown'd in grief, In chase of false delight! 
 
 But my dear Lord returns again, Let me be fasten'd to thy cross, 
 
 He Hies to my relief. And never lose thy sight. 
 
FEBRUARY 9. 43 
 
 Come 710Z0, and let tis reason together, saith the Lord : 
 though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
 snoiv, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wooL...Isa. i. 18. 
 
 Whenkver our Lord denounces his judgments against harden- 
 ed and impenitent sinners, we are sure to find a word of grace from 
 his precious lips to his dear trembling saints ; his loving heart knew 
 that what threatenings he had been declaring against others, his peo- 
 ple would take to themselves, reason their hearts into dejection and 
 sorrow, and cast away their hopes and their comforts ; therefore, as 
 frequently in the days of his flesh, he turned aside to his disciples 
 and said, come now, let not trouble arise in your hearts, let not 
 terror and dread seize on your spirits one moment; so here, let us 
 REASON TOGETHER. Do uot rcasou wjth flesh and blood, with your 
 carnal notions and your legal hearts : confer not Avith satun who is 
 your enemy and accuser ; but reason with me : I am just. Do you 
 say then I must perish in my sins ? No : " I am just, and the justi- 
 fier of him who believeth in Jesus. "....Rom. iii. 26. " I am just to 
 forgive thee thy sins.".... 1 John i. 9. Reason with me upon the purity 
 and spirituality of my law. Dost thou say it pronounces thee cursed 
 for not continuing in all things written therein ? True, but my law 
 has been magnified and made honorable by my Son's perfect, unspot- 
 ted obedience ; therefore I pronounce thee blessed in him: because 
 I impute his perfect righteousness to thee. Come and reason with 
 me at my throne of grace; plead thy sins; aggravate them to the 
 most enormous size ; multiply them to the greatest niiml)er as sands 
 by the sea side; paint them in the deepest hue as scarlet and 
 crimson: blood divine changes their colour to the most perfect 
 whiteness, even as snow and wool ; not the least stain shall remain ; 
 not the least spot shall be seen: "his blood elcanseth from all 
 sin.".... 1 John i. 7. Thou art all fair, all pure, without spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thbig in my sight: all the guilt of thy sins 
 are atoned: all taken away by the sacrifice of my Sen: they are all 
 covered from my sight by his perfect righteousness, and I the Lord 
 pronounce thee blessed; I impute no sin to thee, no more than if 
 thou hadst never sinned. O my soul, here is reasoning: thy Lord 
 would have thee happy and holy, and full of love, and free from legal 
 terrors and slavish dread ; therefore he thus calls on thee to reason 
 with him. True, all this is contrary to thy carnal reason ; but it is 
 the truth of God, who says, "I am pacified towards thee."....Ezek. 
 xvi. 63. 
 
 Lord, daily bring my reasoning pow'rs My sins, though of. the deepest dye. 
 Into subjection to thy word, Thou say'st their colour thou wilt 
 
 And bless my soul with simple faith, O let me find thy word fulfill'd, [change,. 
 Which evermore doth peace afford. Efect this work, so great, so strange. 
 
44 FEBRUARY 10. 
 
 The grace of God that brhigeth salvation hath appeared to 
 all men.... Tit. ii. II. 
 
 Hkrk are three blessed and glorious trnflis: tliey demand the 
 constant attention of our minds; they tend to sink into the deepest 
 humihty of heart, to excite tlie greatest joy of spirit, and to inspire 
 the most ardent love and gratitude of soul. 1st. Salvation: this 
 vas the council of heaven : the work of the Son of God : the won- 
 der of angels: the envy of devilS) and the glory of apostate, rebel- 
 lious sinners.—sinners who are born with enmity of heart, rebellion 
 of will, and hatred of affections against God, and who have mani- 
 fested the enmity of their mind by wicked works. ...the rebellion of 
 their will by taking arms against the Lord; and the hatred of their 
 affections by refusing to lay them down and submit unto him: O, 
 that precious word, full of wonder, grace and love, " God commend- 
 eth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ 
 died for us... .when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
 the death of his Son.".. ..Rom. v. 8... 10. This is a salvation worthy a 
 God of infinite love to bestow: here is a Saviour worthy to be 
 received Avith all readiness of mind, to be embraced with the most 
 cordial affection, and to be gloried in as the richest blessing by lost, 
 hopeless, ruined sinners. For, 2d. this salvation is brought to us; 
 the news of it is sounded in our ears; the report of it is daily made 
 to us: it is displayed and set before us in all its glory, richness, 
 freeness and fulness in the gospel, that we may receive it and enjoy 
 the comforts of it ; take it as our own, and rejoice in the salvation of 
 our God. 3d. It is brought to us by the grace of God which hath 
 appeared. Where? In the person of the Son of his love, and in the 
 gospel of his grace: there the grace of God appears; there the 
 salvation of Jehovah shines forth and is made manifest to all men; 
 to all sorts of men, Jews and Gentiles. Therefore it is revealed, 
 as a free and full salvation, worthy of all acceptation : free from all 
 limitation and restriction. Paul speaks of "knowing the grace of 
 God in truth.".. ..Col. i. 6. This is done, when any poor sinner 
 receives and believes the gospel: it then becomes the power of (iod 
 to salvation to that poor sinner's soul: he then knows the free favor 
 of God in Christ Jesus: Christ is all his salvation and all his desire: 
 that dear Spirit who hath convinced him of sin, and enlightened him 
 to see gospel truths and gospel grace, will comfort him by them. 
 Hath the grace of God thus appeared to thee ? Hath it brought salva- 
 tion to thy soul? Dost thou believe the gospel? Then take heed of 
 mixing any work or duty of thy OAvn with thy faith and hope in the 
 grace of God and salvation of Jesus; for this were to degrade both 
 and bring thy soul into bondage to the law of works. 
 
FEBRUARY 11. 45 
 
 Teaching 1/.9, thai denying ungodliness and xcorldli/ InsfSy 
 tee slumld live soberly y righteously, and godly in thispre- 
 sejil xvorld....Tit. ii. 12. 
 
 "\Vk read in Esdras of three young men who wroi^e of the 
 strength of (lifferent subjects. The 1st. chose wine: the 2d. the 
 ki\g: the 3d. women and truth. He fully demonstrated, that 
 truth is superior to all the charms of women and the power of a 
 king: " As for truth it cndureth and is always strong, it liveth and 
 con(|iu'rcth for evermore; and all the people shouted and said, great 
 is tiuth and mighty above all things."....! Es. iv. 38, 41. Surely so 
 it is with the truth of (Jod's gruce: the stoutest rebels have been 
 conquered by it ; the most mighty kings have fallen victims to it : 
 whom it conquers, them it also teaches: when it has brought the 
 heart to yit■k^ to its sovereign power, it captivates the affections by 
 its sweet influence and regulates the life by its salutary rules. There 
 is a most vile spirit gone forth and prevails. Out of a zeal for 
 holiness and pretence for perfection, the doctrines of grace are ex- 
 ploded, the God of grace is blasphemed ; and in order that men 
 may not live like l)easts, they are taught the pride of devils, whicli 
 consists in rejecting and belying the truths of God's grace. This 
 teaches us. Who? Us who bow to the sovereignty of God, sub- 
 mit to the righteousness of his Son, and accept salvation as a free 
 gift of free grace, m ithout our works having the least hand in pro- 
 curing it, or entitling to it. It teaches us not to labor in the fire of 
 nature's zeal to establish our righteousness before God; but to deny 
 fill ungodliness, every thing which is contrary to God's nature and 
 will, and worldly lusts ; seeing no happiness in indulging them, 
 seeking no comfort from gratifying them: we deny ourselves, and 
 deny them, as contrary to our holy faith and heavenly hope. God's 
 grace, or his free favor and unmerited love in Christ, teaches us to 
 live soberly, righteously and godly ; aiming to discharge every duty 
 to God, our neighbours and ourselves, faithfully, conscientiously 
 and perfectly; but not to be made righteous hereby; not to entitle 
 ourselves to God's favor, but to glorify God who hath made us 
 righteous in his Son ; and to honor him in our lives who has recon- 
 ciled us to himself by his Son. This text, like a two-edged sword, 
 cuts both ways ; it cuts down the vain confidence of self-righteous 
 Pharisees ; it lops oft' the unscriptural hope of licentious Antino- 
 mians ; such as walk after their own lusts, " ungodly men, who 
 turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."....Jude iv. Their heads 
 have the notion of truth ; while their hearts are strangers to the 
 influence of grace ; " from sucli turn away."....2 Tim. iii. 5. 
 
46 FEBRUARY 12. 
 
 Behold, if the Lord icoitld make icindoxcs in heaven, might 
 ill is I h iiig he r .... 12 A' ings v i i . '2. 
 
 This is a darin?]; reply to " TTius saith the Lord." The word 
 of the Lord promises by vast plenty instantly to relieve his people 
 from a great famine. Doubtless, with a witty sneer, this great peer 
 of the earth uttered this reply to Elisha, as though he had said, 
 * Behold, ye people, do not mind what this mad fellow says, use 
 your reason, judge of the nature of things by your senses : do you 
 think God will make windows in heaven to pour dovm corn for you ? 
 There is no other possible way for such a supply as Elisha talks of.' 
 Thus with an imperious air he insults the prophet and exalts his 
 canial reason and unbelief against the Lord's word of promise. To- 
 day he prides himself in his wisdom: to-morrov/ he perishes, and 
 is trod under ff>ot as an unbelieving fool. Here see the cursed na- 
 tiire of camal reason : here behold the dreadful evil of rejecting 
 the word of the Lord by unbelief. Bevk'are of the great, the noble 
 and the wise of this world ; not many of them are called : those 
 ■who are not, are great enemies to God's grace and truth. Look not 
 at the wisdom of the wise, and the judgment of the great of this 
 word ; they are fools in the things of God: " God hath made foolish 
 the Avisdom of this world.".... 1 Cor. i. 20. But, my fellow sinners, 
 ^ee we not somewhat of ourselves in the judgment of this lord ? O 
 Jesu, how does our human reason and unbelief often oppose thy 
 blessed word of grace ? When we find a famine in our souls, Ave 
 think we shall perish for want of the bread of life ; we look this 
 way and that for hope : human proliability shuts up every avenue : 
 still we have " thus saith the Lord" to look to : great and precious 
 promises to trust in. Ah, but says carnal reason, will the Lord 
 fulfil them ? No, says unbelief, it is impossible. What ! after the 
 Lord himself came dov/n from heaven to seek and to save us; after 
 such a miracle of love to us, can we doubt of his care for us ? O, 
 let us cry to the Lord to enable us to tratiiplc this man of sin, this 
 lord of unbelief under our feet, that we be not faithless, but be- 
 lieving. AV'hat ! the word of God : Avhat he speaks to us : what 
 he' has promised to bestow on us ; for his word is truth : " he that 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he 
 not vith him also freely give us all things ?".... Rom. viii. 32. 
 
 Come, let our souls address the Lord, Come, let «is hear his voice to-day. 
 Who fram'd our nature with his word; The councils of his love obey ; 
 He is our shepherd, we his sheep, Nor let our foolish hearts renew. 
 His mcicy chose, his pastui«es keep. The sins and plagues that Israel knew. 
 
FEBRUARY 13. 47 
 
 Have salt in your sekts.... Mark ix. 50. 
 
 Salt preserves our food from piitrifying and makes it satoury 
 to our palate. Job asks, "Can that -which is unsavoury be eaten 
 without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg ?".... Job 
 vi. 6. What salt is to our food, that the doctrines of the grace of God 
 and the grace of these doctrines are to our soul. Why could not 
 our Lord have plainly told us so without using the symbol of salt? 
 He loves to deliver himself in familiar images; they are best suited 
 to our present state : natural things sensibly strike us and easily 
 convey spiritual truths to the heart. Our tables are not furnished 
 if salt be wanting: meat vritiiout salt is unsavoury. O then let 
 every meal remind us of our Lord's words, "have salt in your- 
 selves:" you have daily need to have your souls seasoned with the^ 
 <^-race of God, and the words of Christ. 1st. These will preserve 
 our hearts from receiving and being putrified by the seeds of false 
 doctrine: hearts well seasoned with the salt of tlie covenant gracct 
 will not receive the taint of human error; thus we shall be happy 
 in the sense of truth and the experience of grace in our souls. 2d. 
 We shall be profitable to others : if our own souls are well seasoned 
 with the grace of Christ, we shall be savoury to others. O, how 
 insipid is the talk of the lips if the seasoning of grace and the 
 savour of love is not in the heart 1 Why are some professors so back- 
 ward to speak of the things of God ? Why do others speak of them 
 in such a tasteless, unsavoury manner ? Alas ! their own hearts arc 
 not well salted and seasoned with grace. Notions float only in the 
 head: they are delivered from the tongue: the heart is not impreg- 
 nated witli the salt and savour of them. O christian, be concerned 
 for the glory of thy Saviour, for the comfort of thy own soul, and 
 for the good of others, to have salt in thyself: live every day, pass 
 away every hour under the seasoning, savoury truths of Jesus. 3c!. 
 Salt is obtained from the sea : study, strive and pray to obtain more 
 and more of this precious salt from the ocean of God's everlasting 
 love in Christ Jesus. 4th. " With all thine offerings thou shall offer 
 salt.".. ..Lev. ii. 13. O, never forget that it is the grace of Christ 
 which makes both thy person and thy every offering acceptable to 
 God ; and it is this which spreads a savour through thy whole con- 
 versation : thou canst not be unsavoury vvliile thoti livest upon this 
 truth, '' God hath made mc a sinner, accepted in his beloved Son.".... 
 Eph^i. 6. 
 
 Lord, make me know, and taste, and So shall my heart, my lip, jtiA' lite, 
 . The savour of thy heav'nly love; [feel, Declare the seiis'ninjj.of thy grace: 
 Unto my inmost soul reveal, So free my soul from legal strife, 
 
 A foretaste of thy joys above. To walk with jay before thy face. M. 
 
4S FEBRUARY 14. 
 
 IVIiom resist siedfast in the failh, knoicivs^ that, the same 
 ajjlictions are accowplisltcd in your brethren, that are in 
 the xe arid... A Pet. v. 9. 
 
 I HAD no sooner wrote this text, but Avas constrained to say, 
 blessed be God for his holy scriptures. My poor mind has been 
 often perplexed and distressed with sore attacks of satan ; hence 
 have been ready to call in question my state ; have been almost 
 brought to conclude, that if I was a member of Christ and a child 
 of God, surely he would not sutler the enemy to his glory and my 
 peace thus to tempt, buttet, and distress my soul : am persuaded 
 this is not my case only : all the brethren of Christ are subject to 
 the same perplexity, from the same cause. Satan gains an advan- 
 tage over us, for want of knowing and considering what the apostle 
 ho-re lays down : it is a iixed truth ; all the brethren of the Lord 
 Jesus are subject to the same trials and aflllctions from satan, one 
 as well as another: therefore we should not be surprised nor stag- 
 gered by them. Instead of thinking it strange, or asking, why does 
 t!ie Lord suffer it so to be ? Peter tells us how to act : satan will 
 attack you all through this life : it is a warfare ; therefore be on 
 your guard; rksist him ; give back Dot an inch ; give way not a 
 moment ; indulge not the least sin ; resist his first motion of tempta- 
 tion ; oppose his every artful device ; stand against his every subtle 
 wile, STEDkFAST, undismayed at them, undiumted by them, however 
 horrible and devilish : the more they are so, the more easily known 
 fiom whorii they come. In the faith, honor your Lord's heavenly 
 truths ; oppose them to satan's hellish lies ; bring your Lord's 
 precious promises against satan's vile suggestions ; stand stedfast 
 to, thi\s it is written ; thus I believe ; thus I will honoi' my Lord's 
 word. Never, never let go that faithful saying, " Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners." Cilory in this ; hold up this as 
 your shield against all the fieiy darts of the devjl : with all his infer- 
 nal injections he can make no worse of you than a sinner ; this 
 you own ; yea, and that you deserve hell and danmation too for your 
 sins : but in the faith of Jesus you are a saved, justified, pardoned 
 sinner : there is no condemnation against you, an adopted Son of 
 God. Stand fast in this faith ; abide stedfast by this truth ; glory 
 in your Lord for it ; give him the glory of it ; in the confidence of 
 it " resist the devil, and he will Ike from you. "....James iv. 8. 
 
 Brethren, it is our common lot, Stand in the strength of Christ thy 
 
 Will* s;i'an to cnj:;affe ; Aim'd with his word divine, [Lord, 
 
 Think what apuw'rful I^oru we've got, St^dlast in faith, he'll help afiord : 
 ITeur not his lie!!i;,h rage. Christ'^ yjctoiy is thine. M. 
 
•l^£fiRUARY 15. 49 
 
 His name shall he called Counsellor.... Isa. ix. 6. 
 
 Litigious spirits are fond of la^y. Paul absolutely forbids the 
 brethren of Christ going to law one with another.... 1 Cor. vi. Among 
 other reasons, this is the greatest ; they are concerned in a suit which 
 Avill last their whole lives, and which requires all their time and 
 attention. Though their cause has been tried again atid a^in* 
 though they have gained cause after cause; yet_ their adretsary con- 
 tinues as litigious as ever: he is continually accusing them and pre- 
 ferring fresh bills of indictment against them : he sets the world upon 
 us; he stirs up the flesh in us; he brings heinous chafges against 
 us ; he is the accuser of the brethren before God and to our own con- 
 sciences night and day. ...Re v. xii. 10. Have you heard nothing from 
 satan your adversary and accuser this day? If you have be not dejected: 
 let him accuse, say, and do his worst; it is our unspeakable comfort, 
 we have a wonderful counsellor; he pleads our cause before the 
 throne of justice above ; he pleads v.ithin us in the court of conscience '. 
 he counsels and advises Us by his word and Spirit ; his true and righ- 
 teous pleadings for us shall prevail over all satan's accusations against 
 us. Would you wish your cause in better hands ? Never attempt to 
 take it out of his: cootinually consult him: leave all to him: for, 
 consider, 1st. Jesus in the eternal council voluntarily, unsought 
 and unasked, stood forth and engaged to be our counsellor; like a 
 generous counsellor in a court, seeing the poverty of an arraigned pri- 
 soner ; freely, without money or price, undertakes to plead his cause. 
 O wonderful love I O kind compassion ! 2d. He is a wonderful 
 counsellor : for though law and justice condemn, yet he obtains an 
 acquittal in court for all his clients. Most wonderful in his plea. 
 Not our innocence, sincerity, goodness, &c. no ; he owns our guilt 
 and vileness ; he pleads his own work for us ; the blood he shed for 
 our sins ; his obedience unto the law for our justification ; and his 
 sufferings for our salvation. Justice says I am satisfied, I forgive 
 them. Truth records the sentence. Mercy declares, I will save 
 them. 3d. O wonderful counsellor ! It is sinners, none but sinners 
 thou pleadest for : for this my soul loves thee i God be merciful to 
 me a sinner ! This is ever my plea. I take it up. Lord shew me 
 from law and justice that thou art just, whilst thou justifies the un- 
 godly. Desperate as my case is, may I ever flee to thee, and 
 ever consult thee ; "Thou hast the words of eternal life. "....John 
 vi. 68. 
 
 Jesus is our God and Saviour, Trust him, he will not deceive us, 
 
 Guide, counsellor, and friend, Though we hardly deem of him t ^ 
 
 Bearing all our misbehaviour, He will never, never leave us, ^jk 
 
 Kind and loving^ to the end- Nor will let us <^uits leave him. 
 
 Vol. IL G 
 
&0 rEHIiUARY 16. 
 
 Men ought ulwap- to pray and not to faint.... Liikt xviii, 1, 
 
 Then there can be no room for despair; for prayer exports 
 vants and imports blessings: but our dear Lord knows there is in 
 us all at times a backwardness to prayer; this he "^^ould remove : it 
 arises from fuintins^i this he would prevent ; therefore he opposes 
 praying to fainting, for fainting prevents praying. Have you not 
 found it so ? When weary and faint in your mind, when your spirits 
 are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought this is 
 not a time for prayer : yea, but it is : pray always. Now sigh out 
 the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit : now, though 
 in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your Father's ear.: 
 now cry to him who loveth you and carcth for you with the love and 
 care of the most tender and affectionate father. What makes us 
 faint ? Do troubles and afflictions ? Here is a reviving cordial : 
 " Cull upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, aJid thou 
 shalt glorify me.".. .. Psalm 1. 15. Does a body of sin and death? 
 Here is a supporting promise : '< Whosoever shall call upon the name 
 •of the Lord Jesus, shall be saved."....Rom. x. 13. Do we faint be- 
 cause we have called and prayed again and again to the Lord against 
 any besetting sin, prevailing temptation, rebellious lust, or evil tcm- 
 |)er, and yet the Lord has not given victory over it ? Still, says the 
 Lord, pray always: persevere; be importunate; faint not; reniem- 
 ber that blessed word, "my time is not yet come : but your time is 
 always ready. "....John vii. 6. '• Watch and pray, that ye enter not 
 into temptation. "....Matt. xxvi. 41. Note the difference between be- 
 ing tempted and entering into temptation. Wc are assured in due 
 time, Tve shall reap, if we faiiit not.. ..Gal. vi. 9. Do wc find the 
 • spirit willing, but the flesh weak ? and because of our coldness, 
 deadness, and langourin prayer, do we faint? You cannot pray to 
 please yourself: you think your prayers are irksome to God; and 
 therefore do you faint and are ready to give over praying ? Look at 
 ^David; he begins to pray in a very heartless, hopeless ■way. . How 
 long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever, £ic. See how he con- 
 cludes ; he breaks oui in full vigour of soul ; " I will sing unto the 
 Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me."....l'8alm xiii. 6, 
 Alx)ve all, look to Jesus, who ever lives to pray for you : look for his 
 Spirit to help your infirmities.. ..Rom. viii. 26. 
 
 [you faint t 
 Pray'r is the work of strongest saints, Always pray. ...soul, why should [ness; 
 Of miseral)le sinners too: Know I'm thy strength and righteous- 
 
 Whene'er our feeble spirit faints. Come to my throne, tell me thy want. 
 
 Mind what our Saviour bids us do. With love and peace I'll surel\ bless. M. 
 
Now ahideth faith, hope andMiarity....\ Cor. xiii. 13. 
 
 dMiari{ 
 
 jidt ? In 
 
 Whbrs do these gfaces abitfb ? In regenerate hearts. What 
 » faith ? A precious grace : the gift of God to niistriible sinners. 
 Lord give us the comfort of it to-night. Say some, faith is an as- 
 surance that WY sins arc pardoned ; that Christ loved mu and gave 
 himself for me : indeed it is not. No one has faith without this 
 assurance ; if they have it not they are in a state of -wrath, say 
 some: this is false. This notion has blown up many with vain fancy, 
 while it has distressed sincere souls without reason. Many who 
 contend for this assurance of faith, believe a lie with it ; for they 
 say, those whom Christ hath so loved as to die for, and whose sins 
 are now forgiven, may at last perish : such an assurance is not Avorth 
 a straw : this is not the faith of God's elect ; for it gives the lie to 
 Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith : it contradicts his 
 double oath, " vkrily verily, I say unto you, he that belreveth 
 on me hath everlasting life.".. ..John vi. 47. Leave the vain notions 
 of such; look into the word of God for the true nature of fiuth : it 
 is neither more nor less than a belief of (iod's M'ord ; giving credit to 
 God for what he S])eaks therein ; " believing on his Son Jesus Christ 
 according to his commandment.".... 1 John iii. 2o. Dost thou believe 
 thus in thine heart ? Then faith aliides there. Consider, there i» 
 faith, and "the furtherance ami joy of faith. "....Phil. i. 2.5. If 
 you have faith, though but as a grain of mustard-seed, you will 
 SF.K Christ is precious to you a miserable sinner ; you will RFcRrvK 
 him as the most inestimable gift of God, to save you a lost sinner ; 
 you will GO to him, as the one object of your hope, arid the chief 
 desire of your soul; you will rei.y oi> his death, as the only atone- 
 ment for your sins, ami trust in his rit-hti-ousness alone to justify 
 you ; you will lay hold on him, as the only refiige for your gtiilty 
 soul ; you will live tipov him, that you may find joy and peace in 
 him, and grow up into him in all thinf^s ; you will glory of, and in 
 him alone, saying, " God forWd I should glory, save in the cross of 
 our Lord Jesus,"... .(ial. vi. 14. Hence you will gi*ow out of conceit 
 with yourself, dead to sin, dead to your own righteousness, jmd'; 
 dead to the world. This, this is the faith of the operation of God, 
 which lives ancl al»des in new-born souls : " In thus believing, we 
 may be fully assured, CJoci win iill ns with all joy and peace."..... 
 Rom. XV. 13. 
 
 Fattier, I bless thee' for tlie j^ft Let precious Caith in Clmst abi(!<,. 
 
 Of Chrisf, rh>» pn?cronS Son : AVitTi all its fife and pow'r, 
 
 Spirit, in praise my 30ur 1 Hfr, To cJeave to Christ, whatc'er bet1d<< 
 
 Tor faith', my I.ord to own. Me, in the darkest hour- 54. 
 
53 FEBRUARY 18. 
 
 Noiv ahideth hope... A Cor. xiii. 13. 
 
 Gospel faith and christian hope are twin graces in the heart ; 
 they are inseparable. Faith exists not without liope : hope has, na 
 being without faith. Such as a man's faith is, such is his hope : 
 tliey both flow from God's word, as light and heat from the sun. 
 Take away a word spoken, and faith has no being. Without a pro- 
 mise made, hope has no existence. Faith receives and takes pos^ 
 session of Christ, as set forth in the word. Hope expects all pro- 
 mised blessings, comforts and joys in him, with him, and from him, 
 according to the word ; " the word of God liveth and abideth foi« 
 ever.".... I Pet. i. 33. Jesus who is the essential word, " is our hope." 
 ....1 Tim. i. !. He is the cause of our hope, the object of our hope, 
 and the life of our hope. Therefore our hope abideth : yea, though 
 all in nature fails, all in sense forsakes us, and all as to outward 
 appearances are against us; though satan raises storms and tempests j 
 though corruptions rage and foam, and lift up their boisterous waves ; 
 though like Paul we are in the great deep, and see neither sun> 
 moon, nor stars for a season, yet hope abideth : for Jesus the object 
 of hope lives. The grace of hope cannot perish : it is an anchor 
 to the soul : it keeps it sure and steady : why ? Because it is not 
 cast within us, but without us : what a foolish mariner would he be, 
 who should think his vessel would ride safe and steady against wind 
 and tide because he had an anchor on board ? Just as foolish are 
 those professors who cast the anchor of hope within themselves, 
 on their own graces, inherent righteousness as it is called, Sec. Why, 
 as the sea phrase is, the anchor will come home ; it will not hold 
 the vessel ; there is no ground for it to fasten in : but the chris- 
 tian's hope, " entereth into that within the vail."....Heb. vi, 19. Into 
 heaven itself ; it fixes and fastens upon Jesus, who has entered into 
 heaven for us. As by faith we receive the atonement of Christ 
 for our sins, and trust in his righteousness for our justification, so 
 hope looks for and expects the heart-reviving, soul-sanctifying 
 comforts of this from the Holy Spirit in time, and all the glory and 
 blessedness which Jesus hath by his life and de^h obtained for us 
 in an endless eternity. Faith has to do with things invisible to sense. 
 God's truth is the foundation of faith ; faith keeps hope in lively ex- 
 ercise, " looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the 
 great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.".. ..Tit. ii, 13. 
 
 Thy word, O God, begot my faith. Thy word is truth, thy promise sure. 
 From thence my hope doth spring : Hence faith and hope abide : 
 
 Founded alone on what God saith, My soul in safety shall endure, 
 A^jr soul adore and sing. Nought can from Christ divide. M. 
 
FEBRUARY 19. S3 
 
 JV/ten the poor and needy seek ivater, and there is none, 
 and their tongue fuileth for thirsty I the Lord xvill hear 
 theniy I the God of Israel ivill not forsake them....Isa. 
 xli. 17. 
 
 It is common to hear people say, 'such an one is a great be- 
 liever.' What idea strikes one's mind of such a person? Are we 
 not apt to think he is very rich in himself, having a vast stock of 
 inherent righteousness ? This is wrong: he is just the reverse: he 
 is one who knows himself to be poor and needy: his great faith 
 leads him out of himself to the great God and our Saviour, to receive 
 out of his fulness grace upon grace : he confesses I am a poor and 
 needy sinner, living upon the imsearchable riches of Christ. The 
 sight of our poverty, and sense of our need, the holy Spirit keeps 
 ap in our minds all through life; this make? Christ and his riches 
 of grace precious to us: some say such an one is only a seeker of 
 the Lord : that is just what Cod"s children are all their days: "they 
 are poor and needy, and they seek water:" their souls are athirst; 
 *' and there is none;" they can find no water of consolation in the 
 whole world; they have no spring of comfort in themselves; they 
 can draw none from their own righteousness; " their tongue fails for 
 thij7st;" the sin of their nature like a scorching fever burns in 
 them: this the hardened in sin and the self-righteous feel not: re- 
 generate souls do; they thirst after the cooling streams of Christ's 
 grace and salvation to refresh them; their tongue fails in uttering a 
 word of their own works and faithfulness, &c. All their cry is 
 about their poverty and need, and thirst after Jesus. Well says he, 
 "I the Lord will hear them;" yea, and answer them too: *'if any 
 man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.".. ..John vii. 37. Well 
 but I have been this poor needy, thirsty creature ever since the Lord 
 first convinced me of sin and brought me to Christ for salvation. I 
 hear others talk of their riches, goodness, perfection, &c. Let them 
 talk on : bless the Spirit for what you are ; expect to be poor and 
 needy all your days; rejoice at what the Lord says, "I- will not 
 forsake them." Who ? Poor needy, thirsty souls : such are the work 
 of his Spirit, the glory of his Son, and the delight of the Father's 
 fioul. Christ upbraids those who say, "they are rich and increased 
 in goods," 8cc....Rev. iii. 17. " lie fills the hungry with good things, 
 the rich he sends empty away. "....Luke. i. 53. For Jesus says of 
 all his people, " I know thy poverty, but thou art rich ?"....Rev. ii. 9, 
 Poor in themselves : rich in him. 
 
54 FEBRUAKY 23. 
 
 God hath put a nezv sovg in my mouth.... Psalm xl. 3. 
 
 Some sinjj when they have cause to be sad: others are sad when 
 they have reason to sint^ and rejoice: some go on merrily to hell; 
 others go on sorrowing to heaven. When the grace of Jesus is in 
 the heart, a new song is put into the mouth : this is a song of new 
 covenant love; this we are lo sing all our days on earth and for ever 
 and ever in glory. In passing the streets, we meet Avith many 
 occun-ences MhJch remind us of our beloved: it is sweet to spiri- 
 t\ialize carnal things. I was much delighted w ith a carnal song 
 which concludes thus: 
 
 All th^ time is thrown away, 
 
 Bur what issj)ent in love. 
 
 I thought this was very true of the love of our Saviour. This psalm 
 is applictl to CUirist in his manhood state.... Heb. x. A new song was 
 put in his mouth on our accouBts: he says, "many shall see it and 
 fear and trust in the Lord." See hence our spiritual joy springs 
 from seeing Christ's work in our salvation, knowing the experience 
 he had of his Father's upholding power as man and mediator; and 
 beholding his triumph over all his enemies and ours: look at this, 
 yea look and look again till you can say, O Jesu, my whole soul 
 loves thee ; for hadst thou miscarried in thy work, my soul had been 
 irrecoverably lost for ever: but now thou hast finished thy Father's 
 work and my salvation, I ani saved forever: I see it; I trust in the 
 Lord: and having this confidence in my heart, this song is put into 
 nav mouth: "■Salvation to our God which sitteth upon tlie throne, 
 zknd unto the Lamb.". ...Rev. vii. 10. Now I can adopt my Saviour's 
 -words, " Thou hast brought me up from an horrible pit out of miry 
 day, set my feet upon a rock and established my goings;" therefore, 
 »' I will sing imlo the Lori> as long as I live: I will sing praise unto 
 mv God while I have my being. "....Psalm eiv. 33. I charge thee, 
 O my soul, never, never forget the horrors of dread, the terroi-s. of 
 fear, the agonies of pain, and conflicts of sufterings thy Lord endur- 
 ed from men and devils, and from his Father's fiery wrath and inex- 
 orable justice for thy sins aird thy salvation. O, sing of his mighty 
 conquests! rejoice for his glorious triumphs over aE the powers of 
 sin, xlcath and hell. Well might the apostle exhort lielievcrs thtus: 
 "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns ami spiritual sorvgs, 
 singing and making melody in your hearts to die LouD."....Kplv. 
 v. 19. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and cometoZion 
 with songs: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and 
 sighing shall flee away."....Isa. xxxv. 10. 
 
 Old songs of vain and carnal mirili, Tlitni loying Spirit, thee 1 j)raise, 
 No more delight my heart ; For grace, ol Christ to sing; 
 
 New songs of Jesu's lite and love, lie is my joy, my righieoubncss, 
 Spread joy through ev'ry part. My Saviour and my King. M. 
 
FEBRUARY 2>. is 
 
 O Lord thou hast ikceivtd 7?i(f, and I uas deceived, thou 
 art stronger than /, a/id hast p?-evaded, I am in derision 
 daili/, and every one mockcth vie....Jer. xx. 7. 
 
 A POOH deluded perfectionist lately made a great noise in Lon- 
 don ; he blasphemously pretended to be p.s holy as Ciod himself, to have 
 revelations from him, and peremptorily fixed upon a day when the 
 world was to be destroyed: he deceived many and alarmed more: 
 but time proved how awfully he hatl been deceived himself; and now 
 what is most awful, he has cast off all sense of relii^ion, ridicule* 
 It, chartjes all his delusion upon God, and quotes these very words 
 of Jeremiah to prove that God had deceived lilni. One would not 
 mention this by way of reflection or triumph over this unhappy 
 man, but as a caution against this mad, wild-fire notion of sinless 
 perfection which so spreads among us. But did God really deceive 
 Jeremiah? Can we suppose he charges God with iir The very thought 
 is daring and impious. After giving several senses upon the words, 
 the learned Dr. Gill very judiciously says, it is best of all to trans- 
 late them as they will bear: "O Lord, thou hast persuaded me, 
 and I was persuaded." This sense he takes fiom Luther and 
 Others. The prophet did not run before he was sent, but was called, 
 and effectually convinced of his mission by the power of the Spirit: 
 just so is every believer. 1st. Divinely called and eflectually per- 
 suaded to come to Christ and be his disciple. Christian, consider, 
 do not you see somewhat here suited lo your own case? Was not 
 God stronger than you, and therefore prevailed? Will not you fall 
 • down to-night at the feet of sovereign grace and own its effectual 
 power, and give the Lord of all grace all the glory from your whole 
 heart? 2d. Are you like Jeremiah got into a complaining, unbe- 
 lieving frame? Are you saying, O Lord, I should never have come 
 to thee and been thy disciple if thy grace iiad not prevailed over me? 
 being come, I encouraged my soul to hope for nothing but comfort 
 all through life; but alasl I am disappointed and dejected: men 
 laugh at me and deride me; one says 1 am an enthusiast; another 
 my brain is turned: the world says I am only pursuing whims and 
 chimeras of my own fancy ; and satan mocks and derides me daily, 
 crying, now where is your comfort? Where is now your God ? Bles- 
 sed christian, consider, 3d. and be not dismayed....It is your glory 
 as it was the prophet's, to have a loving-hearted, covenant God, a 
 compassionate Saviour, who is touched with our feelings, to go to. 
 You can pour out your heart before him, appeal to him, tell him of 
 your sorrows, treatment, and heart-felt distress. Though all the 
 world derides you, God delights over you : though satan insults, 
 "God shall bruise satan under your feet shortly.".... Rom., xvi. 20. 
 
56 FEBRUARY 22. 
 
 Hevehi) ive knozv that he abideth in us, by the Spirit zchich 
 he hath given ns....\ John iii. 24. 
 
 " That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.",...Prov. 
 six. 2. What knowledge is to be compared with the excellency of 
 the knowledge of Christ ? All other will perish ; hut " this is life 
 eternal. "...John xvii. 3. " For he is the true God and eternal life.... 
 1 John V. 20. Does he abide in us ? Could wc possess the whole 
 Avorld without this we only grasp a phantom. We may as well 
 seek to fill our belly and satisfy our hunger with the east wind, as be 
 happy without Christ abiding in us. 1st. Wliat is implied in this ? 
 We know Avhat it is to receive and entertain a friend in our dwel- 
 ling : according to our love to him and delight in him, so wc treat 
 him. Love will set the best things before him, give him the pre- 
 eminence in all things, and accommodate him with the best room in 
 our house ; T«a, love is jealous lest all things should not plcase« 
 and will apologize. Now, is it so between Christ and our souls ? 
 Have we received him as the best and dearest friend into our hearts ? 
 Do we welcome him, delight in him, invite his stay, intreat him to 
 forgive what he sees amiss in our poor accommodation ? Then he 
 abideth in us. But, 2d. can any one know and be sure that Christ 
 abideth in him ? Yes, blessed be God this is not confined to the first 
 age of Christianity, not limited to the apostles only, but it is the 
 precious privilege of every believer in Christ: for it is our comfort, 
 that Jesus being glorified, the Spirit is given to all his redeemed 
 to testify of him. See, od. This knowledge is by the Spirit which 
 he hath given us. Take heed and beware, that you do not grieve 
 the Spirit, by ascribing that as common to nature which can only 
 be efTected by his grace. Do you see, and know and feel yourself 
 to be a poor miserable sinner from day to day ? Is sin your soul's 
 grief and your conscience's burden ? Do you delight in the sound of 
 the gospel and welcome name of the Saviour of sinners ? Is he the 
 hope of your soul, the trust of your heart and the joy of your 
 jnind ? Do you desire his company, love his presence and delight 
 in his work of salvation ? Were he now to appear to you in person, 
 and ask what is the one w ish of thy soul ? ask and it shall be done 
 unto thee. Could you reply'; Lord, that I may know thee as my 
 own dear Saviour from sin and damnation into holiness and salva- 
 tion. Is it so ? Who gave ihee this spirit ? not satan. It springs 
 not in the garden of nature. It is from the Spirit of Christ. You 
 may truly say, I know Christ abideth in nic, by the Spirit which 
 he has given nie....l John iii. 21. 
 
 The S|)irit makes known Thee, Spirit, we praise, 
 
 What Jesus halh done, Wl>o in these last days, 
 
 By faith we it own, Afl'ections doth raise, 
 
 Andchoose him and glory of him alone. Jesufi to love, und t» live on his grace. 
 
FEBRUARY 23. 57 
 
 Ye ivere sometimes darkness, but ?w:v are ye light in the 
 Lord: ivalk as children of light..., Eph. v. 8. 
 
 Natural persons raised from indigence to opulence do not love 
 to hear of their pedigree: they see not the hand of the Lord in it: 
 what detracts from their person and merit hurts them : but disciples 
 of Christ like to hear of, love to look back upon what they ■were by- 
 nature, that they may ascribe fresh praise to the Lord, who of his 
 mere grace "raised their poor souls out of the dust, and lifted their 
 needy souls from the dunghill, and has set them with the princes of 
 his people. "....Psalm cxiii. 7, 8. We are here reminded, "Ye were" 
 ....what? dark, having some glimmering light of God, his truths, his 
 ways, 8cc. Nay more, darkness itself; blind to them as if totally 
 deprived of sight ; ignorant of them as a beast ; as dark about them 
 as we should be about natural objects M'ithout the sun. We walked 
 in darkness and knew not that we were in the high road to hell. 
 But now, blessed now, O wonder of grace ! Ye are.. ..what? enlight- 
 ened by the Lord? have light from the Lord? Yes, this is true. 
 But more, "we have a light in the Lord, like the angel which John 
 saw, standing in the sun."....Rev. xix. 17. We have not only the 
 light of life, but we are in Christ, who is the sun of righteousness 
 and the light of the world. Here we see our Father's glory shining 
 in the face of Christ; feel his love in him; behold his grace and 
 truth which came by him; enjoy precious promises in him; know 
 the glorious doctrines taught by him: all which lead to, and center 
 in him. Hence we look down upon the world with contempt, upon 
 sin with abhorrence, upon satan with defiance, upon carnal men with 
 pity, and up to our Lord with love and praise; for "we have an unc- 
 tion from him, and know all things."....! John ii. 20. His truths are 
 our delight: "His commandments are not grievous."....! John v. 3. 
 He re is all comprized in one word, walk as children of the 
 LIGHT. But how shall I know I am a child of light ? Strange ques- 
 tion! Just as odd as for a person with his eyes open in mid-day light, 
 to ask how do I know I can see ? But if you do not enjoy the com- 
 fort of light it is because you do not walk as a child of light : there 
 are many such dark walkers. No marvel they are uncomfortable 
 professors. Paul wept on account of such. See them described ; 
 " They mind earthly things. "....Phil. iii. 19. They have a tongue for 
 Christ, the world has their heart: beware of such : refrain from them ; 
 for " If we say that we have fellowship with Christ, and walk in dark- 
 ness, we lie, and do not the truth : but if we wall? in the light, as he 
 is in the light, we have fellowship one with another," and ','the blood 
 of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseih us from all sin.".... 1 John i. 6,7. 
 Vol. H. H 
 
SB FEBRUARY 24. 
 
 IVhere hto or three are gathered together in my name there 
 am I in the midst of them.... Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
 Ot'R hopes and comforts rise or fall according to our conceptions 
 and belief of what Christ is in himself and "what he is to us. Attend 
 to this: you will find this true in your experience. Therefore, it is 
 of no small moment whether you believe Christ to be God over all, 
 or only a mere man : nay, but it is of the utmost importance ; it 
 enters into the very life, peace, and joy of your soul. He here puts 
 this beyond a doubt. None but God is at one and the same time in 
 more places than one ; but Christ declares wherever my disciples are 
 gathered together in my name, there am I : therefore Christ is the 
 omnipresent God ; this is the joy of our faith ; this the glory of our 
 souls: now it should be our grand concern to bring this into expe- 
 rience and practice. 1st. Remember "the eyes of the Lord arc in 
 every place, beholding the evil and the good."....Frov. xv. 3. O soul, 
 what have you to do at places devoted to sin and vanity? Know the 
 eyes of the Lord are there : if he sees you there he will surely make 
 you smart for it. But, 2d. Our Lord delights in the assembly of 
 his disciples in his name ; if but two or three, no matter where. O, 
 let this call up your attention to his name ; let this reprove profes- 
 sors that they do not always meet in Christ's name, speak to each 
 other more of his glorious person and precious salvation : this is 
 the way to be helpers of each others faith, hope and love in the 
 Lord. Be ashamed of yourselves, ye frozen-hearted, tongue-tied 
 professors, who can be all talk for the things of the world, but dumb 
 when precious Jesus is the theme. What ! can you go day after day 
 without calling your family together to speak a word of Jesus to them 
 end to Jesus for them ? O, what seasons of peace, comfort and hea- 
 venly-mindtdness do you abridge yourselves of! The presence of a 
 king makes a court : the King of kings makes a court, a temple in 
 your houses, yea, in your hearts, when you assemble in his name. 
 Sd. Let this precious word encourage you to this : " There am I in 
 the midst of them." Have you not found it so? The unworthiest of 
 all has. There am I, as though Christ was first there waiting for 
 us. Can his presence be with us without shedding his light, life, 
 liberty and power among us ? No, no more than the sun can shine in 
 its meridian without darting light and heat. Ith. Remember two or 
 three arc within the compass of the promise: not angels, not sin- 
 less men, but poor miserable sinners Christ delights to be in the 
 midst of. O, lore and praise our dear Lord for his marvellous con- 
 descension and this precious declaration: study more and more to 
 improve it, to build up each othei"s souls in him, and to glorify his 
 precious name. See his affectionate notice of such... .Mai. iii. 16, 17. 
 
FEBRUARY 25. 59 
 
 JFhat is yoiir life f. . . James i v. 1 4. 
 
 A SHORT day, full of evils: a span long-, replete -nith crosses. 
 Each revolving day brings its troubles: each fleeting moment it«j 
 sorrows : yes, says a soul, " I am a living witness of this ; I am a 
 mark for the enemy to shoot his fiery darts at; against whom he 
 daily renews his attacks; constantly buffets, and is ever busy with 
 his subtle devices. Each morning I rise I am brought into the field 
 to exercise my arms, or on the stage to conflict with my enemies. 
 Truly, I am almost worn out, and wearied out: what wiih a sense 
 of in-dwelling corruptions; the plague of my heart; the attacks of 
 satan ; the troubles of the world ; want of the sense of my Lord's love, 
 and the workings of unbelief; my life is one continued scene of sor- 
 row and distress." Remember for your comfort, your life is short: 
 your rest shall be eternal and glorious. Consider what one sweetly 
 says: "It is the great work and dilhculty, and yet duty of a chris- 
 tian, to believe unseen and unfelt love, in and under well seen and 
 well felt difficulties:" 6ometimes the Lord joins them as in 1 Thess. 
 i. 6. "Having received the word in much aflliction, with joy in the 
 Holy Ghost," then it is easy; but often the trouble is felt and the 
 love is hid in the word : what is to be done in such a case ? Faith can 
 find love in the word of promise, receive it, fasten upon it, and live 
 by it: here opens a most delightful scene, a most glorious prospect; 
 here lose sight of your life; it is swallowed up in that word: "ye 
 are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God : Christ is our 
 life.".. ..Col. iii. 3, 4. Never consider yourself without Christ, nor 
 .your life without his life, nor your enemies without his perfect vic- 
 tory over them in your nature, for your person, and to your com- 
 fort and joy in him. Now say, what is your life? You have lost all 
 the glory and comfmt of it in Adam : you find all restored, with 
 infinite addition to you» in Christ; therefore, whatever your feelings- 
 and frames may be, yet live by faith upon him, above corrupt sense 
 and carnal reason. This is a mystery uiiktiown to the world: whea 
 you see professors following the pleasures of this life, seeking hap- 
 piness from the gay scenes of vanity, yeu behold them turning their 
 backs upon Christ, shewing the greatest contempt to him, and in 
 effect saying of him, the Lord with all the treasures of his life and 
 love cannot make my life happy: I am forced to take up with the 
 delights of the play-house, and rant and revel in the scenes of mirth 
 and jollity : from such a life, such a spirit, and such professors of 
 Christ, Good Lord deliver us. 
 
 I have a better life than this : Yea, now I live, for Christ's ifiy life, 
 
 'Tis hid in Christ with God. I taste the joys of love ; 
 
 Let death this mortal body seize, And when 1 die, then ends my strife, 
 
 Heav'n shall be my abode, I go to joys above. M- 
 
60 FEBRUARY 26. 
 
 // pleased /lie FaUier, that in him should all fulness dxvell.. 
 CgL i. 19. 
 
 Thk religion of nature is the religion of pride: pride is of the 
 devil: pride works by a lie and keeps the soul in unbelief of the 
 truth: hence ^ve naturally think some change in us, some good done 
 by us, causes God to be our Father, and Ave look on ourselves as 
 his very good children. This notion obtains in the mind of many, 
 and is the cause of their rejecting the everlasting covenant of the 
 three-one Jehovah, and denying the covenant relations and transac- 
 tions of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: they are so filled 
 with themselves, Avith their stuff of inherent righteousness, free-will, 
 moral agency, and one knows not wliat unscriptural jargon, that 
 they see not all fulness in Jesus, where it pleased the Father it 
 should dwell. Lord empty us of all self- fulness that we may receive 
 out of thy fulness : the Father by covenant love; God took on 
 him that near and dear relation to all his chosen, when his eternal, 
 co-equal Son covenanted to become man, to sustain the curse for 
 man, to satisfy justice and obtain every blessing for sinners. This 
 pleased the Father; and as man had lost all holiness, happiness and 
 blessedness by the first Adam, and was quite empty of all good, all 
 fulness is treasured up and dwells in the second Adam, the Lord 
 from heaven. This also pleased the Father: the Father of whom? 
 " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.".... 
 Rom. viii. 9. Here the covenant office of the blessed Spirit is engaged 
 to convince us of sin, to empty us of self-sufficiency, and to shew 
 us the fulness that dwells in Jesus for us: hence here is a plain an- 
 swer to that question, how may I know whether I have the Spirit 
 of Christ or not? Do you see yourself stripped of all righteousness, 
 emptied of all good, prone to every evil? This is the teaching of 
 the Spirit. Do you see the fulness that dwells in that glorious man 
 Christ Jesus? That you must receive pardon of sin, justifying 
 righteousness, adoption to be a child of God by faith in him, sancti- 
 fication and eternal redemption out of his fulness? Are you pleased 
 at this? Are you satisfied to come day after day as a self-emptied 
 sinner, hungry and thirsty, to receive out of his fulness? Can you 
 say so ? Then you have the Spirit of God ; for what pleased the 
 Father, pleases you : O, rejoice in this ; you may say with the 
 apostles and all saints, *' Truly our fellowship is with the Father and 
 his Son Jesus Christ."....! John i. o. 
 
 Lord, pull our haughty spirits down, Spirit of grace, lead us to Christ, 
 
 Our empty hearts make known, As to our fountain head, 
 
 O make uj fall, and see, and own Out of his fulness to be blest 
 
 All fulness in thy Son. With life and living bread. M. 
 
FEBRUARY 27. 61 
 
 The Lord Ihy God in the midst of tJice is mighty; he zcill 
 save, he xvilirejoicc over thee zvithjoi/....Ze/}h. iii. 17. 
 
 A TRULY gracious heart is restless and unhappy when it expe- 
 riences distance from the Lord : notions of the Lord may satisfy 
 formal, dry professors ; but those who are alive to God cannot rest 
 without enjoying his presence ; they will draw nigh to him, praying 
 him " draw nigh to my soul and say, I am thy salvation." That 
 precious word lives and abides in our heart : " now in Christ Jesus 
 we poor sinners who in times past were far off from God, are made 
 nigh l)y the blood of- Christ.". ...Eph. ii. 13. Hence we are called 
 »ipon, " sing, shout, be glad, rejoice with all the heart." Yea, 
 thou God-fearing, soul-trembling sinner, even thou, the Lord has 
 in his eye and speaks from the love of his heart ; " fear thou not, 
 let not thine hands be slack.". ...Zeph. iii. 1 6. Dread not thy mighty, 
 thy many enemies: put on courage; lift up the hands which hang 
 down; take hold of rhy Lord's word: for, 1st. thk Lord thy 
 God in thk midst of thef. is mighty : the might of the Lord 
 his God was in the midst of the heart of young David, when he 
 went to fight the Philistine giant. Hence you hear not one word 
 of himself, of his own might and power, &c. but the Lord has 
 done this and that, and the Lord will deliver now; I come forth in 
 the name of the Lord : so Paul, " I can do all things through 
 Christ who strenglheneth me.". ...Phil. iv. 13. Now here is the na- 
 ture and work of faith : when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, 
 self confidence is destroyed : says the soul, I am weak and help- 
 less ; I am not suflkient of myself to think any thing of myself, but 
 my sufficiency is of God... .2 Cor. iii. 5. This language is a proof 
 that the Lord is in the midst of that soul: he has proved that he is 
 mighty in it by "casting down imaginations and every high thing 
 that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing 
 into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."....2 Cor. 
 X. 5. His mighty salvation is begun in that heart : it has no cause 
 for dejection; for 2d. "he will save:" you believe the Lord's 
 might : he is able to save : you cannot doubt that : his word declares 
 it, his work proves his willingness: exercise your faith upon his will to 
 save you both from ail your fears and all your foes: cast away all 
 vain and foolish notions of terms and conditions of salvation: see it 
 all cast upon thk will of Jesus; for 3d. " He will rejoice over thee 
 with joy:" it was his joy to bleed and die in agony and in blood for 
 thee ; it is his joy that thou comest and criest to him as a lost sinner 
 for salvation : he will rejoice in his work for thee, his grace in thee, 
 and his salvation of thee. O, well maycst thou be called on, " re- 
 joice in the Lord ahvay, and again rejoice. "....Phil. iv. 4. 
 
m FEBRUARY 2S. 
 
 Jle will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing f 
 Zeph. iii. J 7. 
 
 Instead of two meditations on this verse, it is worthy the 
 study of our whole lives : eteniity itself will never exhaust the ful- 
 ness of that rich and glorious giace contained in it. When the 
 .vanity of the creature, and the richness of God's everlasting love and 
 free grace are the subjects, Avell might the preacher say, " Of mak- 
 ing many books there is no end: though much study may be a 
 weariness to the flesh.".... Eccles. xii. 12. Yet such study is reviving 
 and refreshing to the spirit : well, saith the poor sinner, I remember 
 the day of my espousal to Jesus ; it was sweet ; my heart was filled 
 •with peace and joy in believing." But, ah me ! I have lost my first 
 love ; I am cold and dark and dead ; I go on heavily while the ene- 
 my oppresstth me, and is daily saying to me, " where is now your 
 (jod in whom you once delighted, and of whom formerly you made 
 your boast ? Thy love is cold to him : he has totally withdrawn his 
 Jove from thee : thy manifold sins have turned his love to thee into 
 perfect hatred against thee." Dost thou know this language ? Ho\r 
 dost thou treat it ? As the voice of a friend^ or an enemy ? What 
 saith thy Lord? He will rkst in his love; believe him ; reject 
 the lying accusation of satan ; look not at thy scanty love to the Lord, 
 but to the fulness and perpetuity of his love to thee : this will excite 
 thy love ; he rests everlastingly and unchangeably the same in his 
 love to thee : God is as unalterable and invariable in his love to thy 
 person, as in hatred to thy sins : he is silent in his love, he for- 
 gets thy sins, he remembers thine iniquities no more : " this is the 
 declaration of covenant love."....Jer. xxxi. 34. Therefore he will be 
 SILENT in his love, when the terrors of the law ring a loud peal in 
 Thine ears and satan brings dreadful charges against thy conscience, 
 yet thy Loi'd is silent ; he condemns thee not ; his love covers the 
 multitude of thy sins ; his righteousness justifies thee from all ini- 
 quity. In the days of his flesh, when a poor siniier stood before 
 him, and was vehemently accused to him, he w rote upon the ground : 
 he was silent. When he lifted up himself, he said to the poor soul, 
 " I do not condemn thee, go and sin no more. ".... John viii. 1 1. He 
 considers his toils and sufferings for sinners ; he will joy over 
 THEE WITH SINGING. Ah ! but our Saviom'*s great joy would be 
 tm'ned into sorrow, if but one of his beloved, redeemed sheep were 
 to perish; but that is as impossible as for him to cease to be God.. 
 Now think of all this fulness of might, love, joy and delight which 
 thy Lord declares he has in thee and over thee, O my soul ; the Lord 
 excite confidence in him, and cause Ihy heart to burn in holy love 
 and sweet gratitude to him. 
 
MARCH 1. 6S 
 
 That he should gather together in one^ the children of God 
 zvho zvere scattered abroad.. .John xi. 52. 
 
 Thesk words are like Sampson's riddle, which some read thus: 
 "Food came from the devourer, and sweetness from that Avhich is 
 violent or fierce. "....Judges xiv. 14. Caiaphas the high-priest though 
 a devourer of Jesus, yet holds forth precious foo<l : thoupjh violent 
 and fierce against Christ yet he delivers sweet truth. Truth is 
 truth though from the tongue of an enemy: yea, it is a double con- 
 firmation of truth. If Christ is preached let ITS rejoice, though even 
 by bad men and from bad pnnciplcs. Judas preached: the Holy- 
 Ghost causes this wicked high-priest to prophesy of Jesus. By 
 these words the Holy Spirit plainly instructs us in these precious 
 truths: O, that we may receive them in love. 1 st. That though the 
 whole world is become guilty before Cod, yet he has a peculiar 
 chosen number who are here called thk childukk ct (.on: they 
 were not so by nature, but children of wrath even as others: but 
 God "predestinated them unto the adoption of children by Jesus 
 Christ to himself according to the good pleasuw of his will."....Eph. 
 i. 5. vSimply to believe this is to bow to the will of Cod: to object 
 to it is to cavil against God's good pleasure as well as his mercy. 2d. 
 These children are all scattered abroad: every one of them is turned 
 to his own way of cursed sin and shameful foilv ; they delight in 
 their distance from Ciod ; they hate the knowledge of God and are 
 at enmity against his lav/: they say unto God, depart, depart, we 
 desire not the knowledge of thee: they sport themselves in their 
 own delusions; they would iill up the measure of iniquity till their 
 souls drop into hell: but, 3d. They are to be gathered into one : 
 O the amazing mercy I O the astonishing grace of thisl Christ is this 
 belessed one: he like a good shepherd gathers his poor, scattered, 
 Jost sheep into himself: " unto hiin shall the gathering of the people 
 be. "....Gen. xlix. 10. " He gathereth the outcasts.".... Isa. hi. 8. 
 " For they \<^ere given to him of the Father. "....John xvii. 12. Now, arc 
 you deeply concerned to know what all the world care nothing about, 
 whether you are a child of Ciodor not ? Here it is come to a point. Has 
 Christ gathered you ? Has he called you by the grace of his word, and 
 by the power of his Spirit to come to him ? Have you seen misery and 
 destruction in yourself and mercy and salvation in Christ ? Can you 
 say from your heart, Jesus save me or I perish ? If so, you arc 
 surely gathered by Christ : you are really a child of God by faith 
 in Christ : let sin, satan and unbelief ever so much object against 
 it, .doubt not of it. Here are two little words worth the study of 
 your whole life, in oxe : O, ever meditate upon the glory and bles* 
 sadness of being one ix and with Christ Jksus. 
 
64 MARCH 2. 
 
 Thou God sees/, vie... .Gen. xvi. 13. 
 
 " Why sayest thou, O trembling sinner, my way is ))id from the 
 Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God r" The Lord 
 here asks thy reason and reproaches thy speech.. ..Isa. xl. 27. Look 
 at Hagar, and be ashamed of the unbelieving surmises of thy heart: 
 she was a dear child of God, yet she is left to suffer sore distresses : 
 her mistress treats her cruelly : she flees to a solitary wilderness : 
 here was no eye to pity, no hand to relieve, no friend to comfort her ; 
 and what must add to her sorrow and heighten her distress, she was 
 with child : she fled from her station in providence, but the God of 
 providence follows her... .the angel of the Lord, rather, the Lord, the 
 angel, the messenger of the covenant, the Lord Jesus the Saviour : 
 he found her, called her by name, enquires the cause of her distress, 
 and bids her return to her mistress. Hagar knew her Saviour : she 
 sets up a memorial of his sympathizing love for her and care over 
 her : she called the name of the Lord, who spake unto her, thou 
 God skest bie. O, how much is implied in this 1 In every distress 
 remember this for thy comfort, and in every perplexity think of this 
 for thy support, thou God seest me. Let this be the daily watch- 
 word for thy soul. For it implies, 1st. What the church says, " I 
 was in his eyes, as one who found favor, or peace. "....Song viii. 10. 
 " Therefore the eyes of the Lord are upon me, and his ears are open 
 unto my prayers."....! Pet, iii. 12. His loving eyes looked upon me, 
 pitied me when I was polluted in my blood, called me to enjoy his 
 favor and his pe.\ce. Bvit, 2d. Am I got into a wilderness of per- 
 plexity ? Do I find no one who can comiorL nie ? Do I think I have 
 deserted the Lord, and therefore he hath deserted my soul ? Still re- 
 member, " THOU God seest me ;" sees the sorrows, marks the 
 sighs, and hears the complaints of thy labouring breast with an eye 
 of sympathy, and a heart of love : " Our dear high priest is most ten- 
 derly touched with a feeling of our infirmities.".. ..Heb. iv. 15. There- 
 fore he searches after and follows us with this tender and compassion- 
 ate call: " Return again to me."....Jer. iii. 1. "Come unto me ye 
 weary and heavy laden I wUl give rest and refreshment to your 
 souls. "....Matt. xi. 28. 3d. Is there sorrow in our hearts for the 
 folly of our ways, and this cry in our souls; O, that it was with me 
 as in months that are past? This is because the Lord sees us in 
 mercy, comes after us in love, and hath not given us up in wrath: 
 and what says he? I have seen his ways, and I will. ...what? Danm 
 him: O no! O the riches of grace : "I will heul him.".. ..Isa. Ivii. 
 18. Lastly, if thou God skkst jme, O may I always live as see- 
 ing tJiee by the eye of faith: live in thy service, walk in thy fe«r 
 unto thy glory. 
 
MARCH 3. 65 
 
 Filled xvltli the fruits of righteousness, zvhich air bj/ Je- 
 sus Christ unto the glory ajid praise of God. ...Phil. i. 1 1 . 
 
 He who sees not himself stript of righteousness, his eyes were 
 never yet opened, nor his heart convinced of sin by the Spirit of 
 God : he who imagines he has got an inherent righteousness of his 
 own in which he can stand before God, and answer all the demands 
 of his holy law, deceives his own soul: he who seeks to be made 
 righteous, to be justified in God's sight, and to obtain a title to 
 heaven in any other way than by the righteousness of Christ, re- 
 jects Christ and disbelieves the scripture : he who does not delight 
 in the fruits of righteousness and desire to abound in them and to 
 be filled with them, is a stranger to our righteous Saviour and des- 
 titute of the power of our most holy faith. Mind, 1st. thk fruits 
 OK RiGHTEousNKss: why do we not always speak in scripture 
 phrases and use words which the Holy Ghost teaches? It is much 
 easier to understand this phrase, the fruiis of righteousness, than 
 that of inherent righteousness : many people use it, but they 
 neither know themselves, nor can they explain to others what they 
 mean by it. These school terms have brought no honor to the 
 plain, simple gospel of Christ, but have puzzled and misled simple 
 hearts. Pray mind how exceeding cautious Paul is in his phrase.... 
 Rom. vi. 16. Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto.... 
 Whatl life? The former antithesis seems to require it should be 
 UNTO life; but Paul well knew what a legal, self-righteous spirit 
 is in us and how it works by pride; therefore he cautiously avoids 
 electing it : he says, of " obedience unto righteousness, not unto 
 life ;" this is the obedience of faith : hence springs the fruits of 
 righteousness. 2d. These are by Jesus Christ, as he is the 
 Lord OUR righteousness: all the fruits of righteousuess How 
 from our vital union to him, and communication from him through 
 faith. 3d. The end of them ; they are not to satisfy God's justice, 
 obtain his mercy, or procure his favor : nor to fulfil his law, in 
 in order to get life thereby. If we think so, we shall be puft up in 
 our minds, reject our Saviour's righteousness, do despite to the 
 Spirit of grace who glorifies him, and turn the eye of faith from 
 him to trust in our good fruits : but they are unto the glory and 
 PRAISE OF God. To the glory of God who has justified us freely, 
 and will give us the kingdom of his own good pleasure. O Chris- 
 tian ! here is the heavenly spring of all holy zeal, fervent obedience, 
 and abounding in all fruits of rigliteousness. Pray, study -and 
 Strive that you may excel, abound in them, and be filled ^yith them. 
 " For," says our Lord, " herein is my Father glorified that ye bear 
 much fruit."....John xv. 8. 
 
 Vol. IL I 
 
66 MARCH 4. 
 
 The rod of llie Kicked shall not rest upon the lot of the 
 righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto 
 initjuitij... .Psalm cxxv. 3. 
 
 How shall we draw the line between the righteous and the 
 wicked ? How shall we distinp^uish them, seeing they are both alike 
 the subjects of a wicked nature, derived from Adam the sinner, 
 their father ? The Holy Ghost does this : he sets a mark upon the 
 righteous, by which they are essentially distinguished from the 
 wicked, in the first verse of this psalm : they trust in the Lord. 
 The wicked tnist in themselves that they are righteous, trust in their 
 own power to make and keep themselves so, and hope for God's 
 favor and heaven, becaiise they are so: they trust in their own wisdom 
 to guide them through life, and to their own goodness to make them 
 happy in deiuh. The righteous are stript of their own righteousness : 
 they are convinced of sin : they are poor, hopeless, desperate, and 
 in a forlorn and wretched condition as to themselves. (Do you see 
 somewhat of your own picture here?) They trust in the Lord Jesus 
 for righteousness to justify and entitle them to heaven; to cleanse 
 them from sin ; for wisdom to guide ; power to support ; grace to 
 sanctify ; and love to bring them to glory. Now the«e two sorts of 
 persons are back to back ; the face of one is towards heaven, the 
 oiher towards hell. They are of two seeds, there is enmity put be- 
 tween them: tlie wicked have always a rod for the back of the righ- 
 teous. Ay, and they would lay it on with both hands and always 
 keep it upon their backs too. Though for wise and gracious ends 
 the Lord permits this for a season, yet he will not suffer it to rest 
 there long. Wicked Saul was a scourge to righteous Duvid, so was 
 blasphenjiilg Scnachcrib to good Hezekiah; and says the church, 
 " Thou caused men to ride over our heads. "....Psalm Ixvi. 12. Yet 
 David came co the throne. Hezekiah and his people were unhurt by 
 the Assyrians: and the church says, "We went through fire and 
 water, but thou broughtest us into the wealthy place." Here is a rea- 
 son why our Lord will not suffer the rod of ihe wicked to rest on the 
 righteous: " Lest he put forth his hand unto iniquity." We never 
 suff"er judgment, but mercy is in it : our troubles arc dealt to us by 
 the hand of love: mercy is mixt with then» all. The Lord knows 
 the righteous is but frail : he remembers he is but dust, and liable 
 to sin: he is wise to prevent this. When oppression and trials from 
 the wicked bring us low and make us cry to the Lord, then we honor 
 his grace and his power, his truth and his love, h\ the alTiance of our 
 heart: "He will fulfil the desire of them that fear hin), he also will 
 hear their cry and will save them. ".... Psalm cxlv. 19. 
 
MARCH 5. 6T 
 
 Noiv abideth faith, hope and charity, these three, but the 
 greatest of these is charity.... I Cor. xiii. 13. 
 
 It is a pity it was not rendered love instead of charity, all 
 through this chapter: it certainly would have been a means of pre- 
 Tenting much error. Consider, 1st. The abiding of love: it springs 
 from faith and hope, and has no existence in the heart without them. 
 We have no more love to God than a beast, yea, than a devil has, 
 till we believe his love to us and hope in his promises made us in 
 Christ Jesus. We love him... .Why ? merely because of the glories 
 and perfections of his nature is he the object of our supreme love ? 
 No; but "rather because he first loved us."....l John iv. 19. How 
 has God manifested his love to us? In this: "Because that God 
 sent his only begotten Son, into the world that we might live through 
 him."....ver. 9. But our hearts are strangers to this love till we 
 believe in Jesus and hope in his salvation: then the effect of love is 
 produced from its original cause, the love of God; then we live ia 
 love and walk in love, because we live a life of faith on the love of 
 God. 2d. But why is love greater than faith and hope ? 1st. Be- 
 cause it is the greatest proof of their existence. How can you prove 
 you believe and hope in Christ without love ? This is the love of God 
 that we keep his commandments. Suppose you were called to be 
 a martyr for Christ: you believe you can do all things through 
 Christ's strengthening you ; you hope he will strengthen you ; but 
 if you so love him as to suffer for him, you prove your faith and 
 hope. 2d. Love is the perfection, the rich and ripe fruit of faith 
 and hope. Love is the very nature of Ciod in the soul ; for God is 
 LOVE. Love makes our souls cheerful in the service of God and 
 one another. What is life, even the life of faith and hope without 
 love? 3d. Love will live and sing when faith shall be lost in sight 
 and hope in fruition. Love includcih faith and hope; "for love be- 
 lieveth all things, hojjcth all things, beareth all things, endnreth all 
 things: it never faileth.".... 1 Cor. xiii. 7, 8. () my Lord, my love, glory 
 to thee that I do believe and hope in thee. Crown, O crown these 
 blessed graces with more heavenly love. Love is of tJiee, and from 
 thee. O, so shed thy love abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost, 
 that I may not only be a believing, hoping, but loving disciple of 
 thine ; that my soul may burn with a flame of love divine to thee 
 and to my brethren: then shall I assuredly live in the suburbs of 
 glory, above the deceits of sin, sataii and the world; for love is of 
 God....l John i v. 7. 
 
 Lord-, hast thou blest my soul with love, Then make me watchful every hour. 
 My soul which thee did hate ! To live and walk in love; 
 
 Av.d shall 1 sing thy praise above From sin's deceit and sataw's pow'r. 
 
 When faith, and liope abate ! Lord lift my soul above. M. 
 
68 MARCH 6. 
 
 Christ died for all, that they zvhich live should ?wt hence- 
 forth live unto themselves y but unto him xvhich died for 
 them and rose again... .2 Cor. v. 15. 
 
 Christ died for all "whom the Father gave him. "....John 
 xvii. 9. Sooner or later all these willingly and cheerfully come \mto 
 or believe on Christ. Joyful to remember, we are drawn to Christ 
 by the love of the Father, or else we never should have come to 
 him... .John vi. 44. Now we have done with working for life, and 
 asking what must we do to be saved? for now we actually are savkd 
 and really do live. 1st. We arc saved from the love of sin, from 
 our natural hatrq;! to the doctrines of grace, and from our aversion 
 to full justification and final salvation by the work of Christ only. 
 Legal, self-righteous hearts, cry, do not tell ns of doctrines of 
 grace, but of what we must do to be saved. Truly the way is plain : 
 there is work enough for them to do: if they will enter into life by 
 keeping the com mandments, let them perfectly fulfil the law and 
 salvation is sure. So say they, no matter how you live, live as you 
 like, your salvation is sure ; this is very true ; salvation is not only 
 possible, but sure and certain to every believer in Christ ; and all 
 such strive to live as they like. 2d. We live a life of faith on the 
 Son of God : not under the legal threats and terrors of the law in 
 our consciences, striving to pacify its wrath by fulfilling its com- 
 mands ; but perfectly justified from all its condemnation. We do 
 not like to live and walk in our sinful lusts, to obey our depraved 
 wills, .to gratify our sensual affections, to live to sinful sense at all ; 
 nor to righteous self neither. Our souls are equally averse to sinful 
 lusts as to self-righteous pride. Both are opposite to the love and 
 glory of our dear, once dead, but now risen Saviour. As by him 
 we live ; so to him we live : this is what we like and prefer above 
 all things. Say, O my soul, is not this thy chief, thy one desire ? 
 We have no greater pleasure on earth than to walk in the truth, to 
 live by the truth, and to live and walk according to the truth. O, 
 thou life of our souls, thou Jesus and our all, without thee we can 
 do nothing, help us to consider what a little while we have to live 
 unto thee, and to glorify thee, before we shall live and reign with 
 thee. Lord, in the belief of this, fire our hearts with a holy zeal 
 for thy glory, unremitting diligence in thy service, and unwearied 
 constancy in obeying thy will, " being ready to every good work.".... 
 Tit. iii. 1. 
 
 Christ died for us, that we should live, O, may the love, the dying love 
 No more to self and sin ; Of Christ possess my soul. 
 
 This truth is precious to believe : By living faith to soar above. 
 
 And makes us pure within. And all my pow'rs controul. M, 
 
MARCH 7. 69 
 
 O, visit mc iciih thy salvation. ...Psalm cvi. 4. 
 
 There is no good got by paying trifling visits and receiving 
 trifling visitors : the soul that is alive to God will be sick of such an 
 impertinent way of sacrificing its time : " Christ hath redeem.ed us 
 from our vain conversation."....! Pet. i. 18. Our grand business is 
 to be looking at, glorying in, and talking of his righteousness and 
 his salvation all the day long : this was David's practice ; if we fol- 
 lowed it more, we too should say with him, " My lips shall greatly 
 rejoice, and ray soul which thou hast redeemed. "....Psalm Ixxi. 23. 
 As our joy in Jesus increases, carnal, impertinent acquaintance would 
 forsake us. Here is the cry of a convinced sinner, of a truly gra- 
 cious heart ; O, VISIT MK WITH THY SALVATION: this is a blcsscd 
 frame of soul ; Lord help us to consider it and animate us to live to 
 thee. Here is spiritual sight and spiritual feeling. What is a 
 Christian without these ? Truly sunk into a state of dead formality, 
 l.st. Spiritual sight: the jioor sinner sees himself totally ruined, 
 and must be eternally miserable, for any thing he can do to save 
 himself: sin has destroyed him, and the law of God curses him ; but 
 he sees that Christ has perfectly fulfilled the law, suflered its curse, 
 and eternally satisfied inexorable justice. Thus is salvation finished : 
 in the firm belief of this he cries, visit mk, even vf., a desperate 
 sinner in myself, with the joys and comforts of thy salvation. O 
 Jesu, I cannot be content with hearing of ssUvation, with seeing it 
 is for sinners, with believing it is everlastingly finished for them, 
 without tasting the joys and feeding upon the comforts of it in my 
 own soul. For, 2d. Here is spiritual feeling ; laugh on, deride as 
 you please, ye unquickened multitude, at the bitter, sweet feelings 
 of living souls. We feel the bitter of our misery as sinners ; we 
 groan being burdened with a body of sin and death ; we cry out, O 
 wretched timt we are, Avho shall deliver us ? Rut blessed be God, 
 that prayer of the church of England, at the visitation of the sick, 
 is answered upon us : " We do know and keel that there is none 
 other name under heaven given to men, in whom, and through 
 whom we may receive health and salvation, but only the name of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ :" this is the sweet feeling of faith ; there- 
 fore in faith we cry, visit me, miserable me, with thy salvation 
 Lord Jesus ; make me to feel the peace of God, which passeth all 
 understanding ; O, shed the love of God abroad in my heart. The 
 Lord keep our souls in this believing, praying, loving, feeling frame 
 below, till we come to full fruition above, rejoicing that we are made 
 " wise unto salvation. "....2 Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 In the firm faith of sacred truth, The precious visits of thy grace, 
 O may 1 e'er abide, Grant me, dear Lord, to prove 
 
 Expecting God's refreshing love, In this forlorn and wretched state, 
 Tho' foes do me deride. To fit me fov above. M. 
 
70 MARCH 8. 
 
 The Jtobj scrf'p/Nrrs, zvhicli arc able fo make thee wise nnte 
 sahalion, through faith zchich is in Clirist Jesus.... 
 2 Tim. iii. 15. 
 We never think to any purpose about salvation till we sec our 
 own condemnation for sin. Has there ever been a tribunal set up in 
 your conscience ? Have you been arraigned and held up your hand 
 at the bar of justice ? Mas the law of God brought its charge against 
 vou ? Have you from inward convictions of sin been forced to plead 
 GUILTY ? Then the law pronounces its curse upon you, and there it 
 leaves you under it>5 guilt and terror ; for to convince and to condemn 
 is all the law can do : the Lord knows, and poor sinners know too, 
 (I speak for one) this is a most deplorable state. Now, the once 
 neglected book of God becomes most precious to the soul ; he now 
 sees as he had no knowledge of sin but by the law, so he can obtain 
 no knowledge of salvation but by the gospel. Such a soul is wise, 
 but not in his own eyes ; prudent, but not in his own sight : there is 
 a woe against such as are....Isa. v. 21. And Christ thanks his 
 Father that" he had hid the things of his kingdom from the wise and 
 prudent, and revealed them unto babes.".. ..Matt. xi. 25. Q, it is 
 blessed to be a babe in one's own sight, to know that we have no 
 wisdom in ourselves, to be stript of all our corrupt ideas of salvation., 
 to see that we must learn all from the scriptures, and simply receive 
 and believe M^iat they testify of salvation by Jesus : this is tioie 
 wisdom ; this is being wise unto salvation. Now, if you closely 
 attend t6 and examine the cause why your walk is not always holy, 
 happy and joyful, you will find it is because of your folly. You do 
 not simply search the scriptures for wisdom, nor simply believe the 
 salvation they reveal, which is in Christ. The scrijUnres are able 
 to make thee wise unto salvation. But say you, cannot the spirit do 
 this without them ? This is folly. The spirit is in the word ; he 
 teaches us to be wise unto salvation by the word : if you expect the 
 spirit without the word, you have the vain hope of a fool. Thkough 
 rAiTH IN Chtiist Jesvs: the scriptures testify of him, and of sal- 
 vation by him oni.v. To believe the scriptures is to believe in Christ 
 unto salvation. O, say some, I do from my heart believe the scrip- 
 tures, but 1 fear I have no saving faith in Christ. Here you are not 
 a babe ; not simple of heart : you did not learn this from the scrip- 
 tures ; you get into the reasoning of the father of lies : so you dis- 
 tress your mind. Take thy Lord's reproof, " O fools and slow of 
 heart to believe (Avhat ?) all that is si'OKKN."....Luke xxiv.25. 
 
 Vain men who seek to be mude wise, C' me.lir.ten to the scripture's voice> 
 Without God's holy word, It? sacred truths ohey, 
 
 NPRlcCiing faith in Jesus Christ, With wisdom then, ye shall rejoice 
 
 Yc ne'er can know the Lord. In Chriit the only way. 
 
MABCH 9. 71 
 
 T}ds people have I formed for myself : ilwx) shall shew 
 . forth my praise.... Isa. xliii. 21. 
 
 What says the world of God's new formed creatures? " These 
 men turn the world upside down. "....Acts. xvii. 6. Well, if they do, 
 is it not right ? Seeing the devil by sin turned it upside down once, 
 Christ by the power of his grace turns it upside down again ; then 
 it is turned into its right state. The Lord is here about to perform 
 a wonder of grace : he calls for our special attention to it : " Behold 
 I will do a new thing.". ...Isa. xliii. 19. He was going to take those 
 who were not his people, to Tr»ake them a people. The eminent dis- 
 plays of God's grace should be tiie admiration of our hearts and tlic 
 glory of our souls. See, 1st. The description of this people: they 
 are compared to the beast of the field, to dragons and owls : yet the 
 Lord calls them, "my people, my chosen. "....Isa. xliii. 20. My 
 soul, remember what thy nature is : as filthy as a beast, as fierce as 
 a dragoO) as stupid as an owl. Was the earth at its first creation 
 without form and void of order ?....Gen. i. 2. ...Just so respecting 
 spiritual things are all the subjects on whom the Lord displays the 
 power of his grace. View thy nature : come down from thy alti- 
 tudes : live in the valley of humiliation : adore the power that formed 
 thee : confess the hand divine, i'or 2d. The Lord forms such : till 
 this is eflfecled we are only formed to serve our lusts, enjoy the 
 pleasiu*es of sense and sin, and to be slaves of satan. What hand 
 have we in our spiritual formation ? Just as much as the earth had 
 in forming itself into order and beauty, out of a rude mass of chaos 
 . and confusion. Well might Paul say, " We are his workmanship, 
 created anew in Christ Jesus. "....Eph. ii. 10. Settle this well in thy 
 mind, to quell the rising of cursed free-will pride which i-obs the 
 Lord of the glory of his efficacious grace, 3d. Sec the end of the 
 Lord's work of grace upon sinners. 1st. Formed for myself; how 
 precious is that word. Formed to come unto God, enjoy fellowship 
 with him, and live upon the fulness of the grace of Christ; yea, to 
 choose the Lord for our portion, and delight in him as our all in 
 time and eternity. 2d. They shall shew forth my praise. Lord 
 fill our hearts with such a sense of thy distinguishing grace to us, 
 that thy name may be ever praised by us. O, may we ever praise 
 thee with the love of our hearts and the obedience of our lives, who 
 hast called us out of nature's darkness into the marvellous grace of 
 Christ. 
 
 We're all alike dc^troy'd by sin, Throii3;h Christ iintrt our riiin'd race. 
 
 And sunk into a hell of woe ; To raise our sonls to Joys above. 
 
 Butsov'reig;i grace reuewsvvithin. [flow. Equal praise to tliee, O Spirit, 
 Hence peace wiih God and comforts Our soul ■, are ever bound to give. 
 Sing, 0>e saints I this matchless grace, By thy pow'r we now inherit 
 Flows from our Faihejr's endless love, Our aJl in Christ, and on him live. 
 
72 MARCH 10. 
 
 All tluH the Fallicr giveth mCy shall coine to me, and him 
 that Cometh to me I will in no zoise cast out... John vi. 37. 
 
 By how many ways does satan get advantage of us ? Though 
 he cannot engage us to do his drudgery, as cooks and scullions in a 
 kitchen, yet he often employs us to nurse those peevish, defornjedr 
 ill-favored brats, corrupt reason, unbelief, slavish fears, &c. And 
 he gives us no other wages for our service but distress, dejection 
 and discontent: O ye children of the most high, instead of nursing 
 such a vile brood, why do ye not rather poison them by divine truth, 
 and dash them in pieces by divine promises flowing from God's 
 everlasting love to you : mark the process of it. 1st. Because the 
 Lord loved you, he gave you to his Son ; this implies some secret 
 transaction between God the Father, and his Son Christ Jesus: 
 here we have a display of covenant purposes. All whom the 
 Father loved with an everlasting love and chose in the morning of 
 eternity, he committed into Christ's hands to be saved by him with 
 an everlasting salvation. Came the Son of God from heaven upon 
 an uncertainty ? Died the Lamb of God as a fool dieth, to no fixed 
 end and purpose ? No ; he died to redeem, he rose to justify, he 
 ever lives to save all whom the Father hath given him, &c.... 
 John vi. 39. Believest thou this ? Yes, says a poor sinner, and I 
 tremble lest I should not be one of this blessed number ; you have 
 reason to tremble, if you have not come to Christ. For, 2d. He 
 saith, "they all shall come to me;" what! as dragged by the 
 hair of- their heads ? So some impiously pun upon the doctrines of 
 efficacious grace : no, but they come willingly and cheerfully to 
 Christ, as drawn by the bands of love and the cords of reason : we 
 see ourselves in all the filth of sin, in utter ruin and distress, feel 
 guilt in o\n- conscience, the curse of the law on our heads, self- 
 dtspair in our hearts, and with this cry in our mouth, save. Lord, or 
 I perish : I am lost, but thou hast died : there is no Saviour, no sal- 
 vation but thee : I believe this, and come to thee. Is this thy case? 
 Then rejoice, thou wast given to Christ by the Father in eternity, 
 and the Spirit hath quickened thee to come to Christ in time. 
 Hear what our dear Saviour saith of all such : 3d. " I will in no wise 
 cast out." O, this blessed negative is the strongest aflirmativc ! 
 This precious word has been a sheet-anchor to nmny a soul in storms 
 of distress... .IN no wise : though black as hell, deformed as a 
 devil by sin, yet whenever such a soul comes to me, my loving 
 heart will most freely receive, my gracious arms most cordially em- 
 brace, my precious blood perfectly cleanse, my glorious righteousness 
 everlastingly justify, and I will for ever save him to the uttermost. 
 Heb. vii. 23. 
 
MARCH 11. 73 
 
 Know ye not your ozvn selves, how thai Jesus Christ is in 
 you, except ye be reprobates F....2 Cor. xiii. 5. 
 
 Happy for ministers, when their mission from Christ is called in 
 question, to appeal to their people's hearts to prove that Christ hath 
 spoken to them. Happy for christians, to examine, prove, and know 
 themselves, and to find Christ is in them. Ignorance of ourselves, 
 lies at the bottom of all error and self deceit. Lord help us deeply to 
 consider this important question. IsL. Know ye not your own selves ? 
 Come, you are very ready to judge ministers, find fault with them, 
 and to call their gifts and graces in question: look at home: know 
 yourselves : be not puffed up : consider yourselves, be humble. Your 
 hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked ; your 
 nature is totally corrupt and abominable : In your flesh dwells no 
 good thing? its motions are to bring forth fruit unto death: its lust- 
 ings are continually unto sin. Know, there is no difference in your 
 nature from that of the most vile and abandoned sinner upon the face 
 of the earth. If left to yourselves, there is not the most atrocious 
 sin but you might commit: There is not a hell in which others are 
 eternally suffering for sin, but what you justly deserve and would 
 fall into ; for your sinful nature is as reprobate, corrupt and adulte- 
 rate as others, even as the most vile: yea, and your state is also by 
 nature as bad as others, even children of wrath. Know ye not 
 your own selves? Has the Spirit of truth made you thus acquainted 
 with yourselves? Be not afraid to see and know the very worst of your- 
 selves. For, 2d. Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except 
 ye be reprobates ? Blessed distinction! In this the elect differ from 
 the reprobate: the former have Christ in them; the latter reject 
 Christ and are without any true knowledge of him, faith in him, and 
 love to him. What is implied in Christ being in us ? 1st. Dwelling 
 in our hearts by faith: a clear knowledge of him, cordially receiving 
 him, heartily believing on him, stedfastly cleaving to him, con- 
 stantly abiding in him, steadily looking to him, as he is revealed in 
 the word, the righteousness of sinners, the atonement for the guilty, 
 justification for the ungodly, and the Saviour of the hopeless, help- 
 less, and desperate. Therefore, 2d. He is precious to us, as being 
 suitable for us in his glorious person and all his blessed offices: hence 
 our hearts go after him, our aflections are placed on him, and it is the 
 desire and delight of our souls to honor, serve and obey him: thus 
 self-knowledge and the knowledge of Christ are the very criterion of 
 salvation. O, that we may sink into the depths of the deepest hu- 
 mility by the one, and rise into the heights of the highest comfort, 
 peace and joy by the other : so shall we prove, that we have true 
 christian experience of the love, and grace of Christ. 
 Vol. It K 
 
74 MARCH 12. 
 
 But speaking the truth in love, ma\) grow up into him in 
 alt things, who is tlie head, even Christ. ...Eph. iv. 15. 
 
 There is much good or much harm done by public preaching 
 and private speaking-. See to it christians: it either makes souls 
 grow up in self-love, self-righteousness, and self-complacency ; or to 
 grow quite out of all conceit with themselves, and to grow up into 
 Christ in all things. Vain persons who think themselves very hand- 
 some, are peculiarly fond of looking at themselves in a glass that 
 flatters or deceives them : if they see a disgustful spot or blemish in 
 their face, their vanity prompts them to give it some better name 
 than it deserves, that it may not bring down their high opinion of 
 their own beauty : this is the exact case with those who are grown 
 .up in themselves, in a high conceit of their own sinlkss perfec- 
 tion : if a spot or blemish of sin appear, O that is only an infirmity 
 they do not call these things sin : but one loud peal of thunder, one 
 dreadful Hash of lightning from Mount Sanai, would make them say 
 with David, " I have seen an end of all perfection.".... Psalm cxix. 96. 
 And with Paul, " I was alive without the laAv once, but when the 
 commandment came sin revived, (it seems sin was fallen into a dead 
 swoon, but the law revived it) and I died. "....Rom. vii. 9. Then 
 Paul was glad to speak the truth, in love, to love the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, to grow out of conceit with himself, and to grow up in Christ 
 in all things. O, this is blessed growing. Lord make our souls 
 tlius increase, with all the increase of God. Into Christ: in a great- 
 er knowle'dge of his glorious person, more experience of his hum- 
 bling grace, stronger exercise of faith in him, hope towards him, 
 love to him, patience, resignation and self denied obedience to his 
 blessed word and will. In all things: as Christ has redeemed us 
 from ALL iniquity, and justified us from all things; faith works 
 by the love of this, to universal obedience; for Christ is thk 
 head: ever remember this and be humble; firmly believe this and 
 be joyful. He is, 1 st. The head of inlluence : you can have no grace 
 to strengthen you: no righteousness to justify you: no holiness to 
 sanctify you; no love of the Father to bless you: no Spirit to com- 
 fort you, but in and from him: the body is nourished from the 
 head: So are all Christ's members. 2d. He is the head of eminence 
 to protect you from every evil enemy and danger, till he brings you 
 safe to his glory. Know, that all this comfort and blessedness is 
 enjoyed in the faith of Christ, " who is the truth. "....John xiv. 6. 
 
1MARCH 13. rs 
 
 Only believe.... Mark v. S6. 
 
 A SHORT answer to a case of great distress : a simple recipe 
 from the greatest physician : a grand catholicon, or xmiversal remedy 
 that suits all cases, states and circumstances, and is seasonable at all 
 times. Look at this history : look to the author of faith to profit by 
 it. Here is a ruler falls at Christ's feet, beseeching help for his 
 daughter at the point of death : Jesus went with him : before he 
 arrives at the house, news is brought that the child is dead : the 
 Lord of life and death forbids the father's fears: be not afraid; 
 he encourages his hope : only believk. Fears are natural to sin- 
 ners ; faith expels them. Christ restores her to life : joyful news 
 for us. 1st. Here is precious encouragemerit for our faith in every 
 application to Christ. Tor 2d. Here is a marvellous display of his 
 great love, ready will, and almighty power to help and relieve us : 
 he not only restores at the last gasp, but when life is departed recalls 
 it. If your soul is alive to God, you have experienced this : It Was 
 dead in sin : Christ quickened you : now he is your life, how are 
 you to walk and enjoy the comfort of this ? only believe. How 
 many hearts heave with indignation against this doctrine ? How 
 many taunt at us ? " O you arc all for faith, nothing but faith, only 
 believe." True, we are all for Christ, nothing but Christ, only 
 Christ; and we can enjoy him only by believing : he reproves our 
 slowness of heart to believe as our greatest folly....Luke xxiv. 25. 
 All our comfort flows from faith ; all our misery from unbelief. 
 Bring this to a point. Are we groaning under the burden of inbred 
 sin, vexed with sore temptations ? Do we feel the accusations of 
 conscience, fear the terrors of a broken law, see the drawn sword of 
 justice in the hand of a sin-avenging God, and tremble at the solemn 
 thoughts of death and judgment? Under all this, what can bring 
 relief to our conscience, hoi)e to our mind, and peace to our soul ? 
 Only believe that Christ hath redeemed, justified, and will eter- 
 nally glorify us : this is death to our fears, and life to our joys. 
 Again, how is the life of holiness maintained? Only believe that 
 walking in fellowship with Christ infinitely exceeds all the pleasures 
 of sin, the joys of sense, and the happiness of the world. Faith 
 elevates the soul above all this, and causes it to look down with a 
 holy contempt upon it. Faith enjoys Christ, that is heaven in the 
 heart. " In this stedfast faith we are to resist satan....l Pet. v. 9. and 
 overcome the world.".... 1 John \ . 4. 
 
 " Only l)elieve:" Lord give the pow'r, Faith brings all glory to the Lortl, 
 To look to thee in CT'ry hour, It trusts his pow'r, spoke in hit, word t 
 
 Of sorrow, need, and sore distress, It lifts dejected spirits up, 
 For love to help in ev'ry case. Who lean on Christ their only hope. M. 
 
76 MARCH 14. 
 
 What time I am afraid, I tcilt trust in thee.... Psalm Ivi. 3. 
 
 A christian's fears commence with his joys. Being new born 
 he is the subject of new joys and new fears also ; and glory to grace, 
 he has a new object too to trust in, a covenant God in Christ, who 
 is unchangeable in his love. Confidence in him is the sovereign 
 antidote against dejecting fears : fears that the world know not of, 
 beset holy saints. 1st. They find and feel their hearts to be super- 
 latively deceitful and desperately wicked ; they dread their corrup- 
 tions more than all the men on earth or devils in bell ; they are afraid 
 lest some vile lust, cursed corruption, or devilish temptation should 
 prevail, so as to offend their Lord, wound their conscience, and 
 bring a reproach upon the gospel of our beloved : this is a holy fear ; 
 it can do the soul no harm ; it is for its good ; it keeps it humble 
 and self diffident, and causes it to say, " I will trust in thee." " Do," 
 saith the Saviour, " my grace is sufficient for thee: my strength is 
 made perfect in thy weakness : my power shall prevail over thy 
 wickedness." 
 
 2d. They may be afraid, after all their delightful hopes of living 
 and reigning with Jesus in glory ; that through the pressure of a 
 body of sin and death, the snares and devices of satan, the allure- 
 ments of the world, See. they may come short and perish at last : 
 they may fear, lest after they have spun the last thread they should 
 perish on the shore in sight of glory : but they may boldly and con- 
 fidently say, I will trust in thee ; for here is a most precious three- 
 fold cord which can never be broken. Thus saith Jesus, 1st. I 
 give unto my sheep eternal life. 2d. They shall never perish. 3d. 
 None shall pluck them out of my hands.. ..John x. 28. I thank thee 
 my dear Lord ; this has been a sheet anchor to my soul in many a 
 dreadful storm. 
 
 od. We may be afraid of that terrible monster, death; but Christ 
 hath conquered him for us : trust in the Lord brings pcrlect victory 
 over him, and joyful triumph against him ; so that we can say, " O 
 death, where is thy sthig? O grave where is thy victory? Thanks 
 be to God, w ho giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 ....1 Cor. XV. 55, 57. Faith makes a bridge over the river of death, 
 but 4th. says a poor sinner, I am not afraid of being damned in 
 hell, but of starving on earth : but saith he, " Trust in the Lord, 
 and verily thou shalt be fed.".. ..Psalm xxxvii. 3. 
 
 How many are the fears O, teach my soul the art, 
 Which exercise my mind ! All times to trust in thee ; 
 
 But God is nigh, his grace appears, For, O how gracious is thy heart. 
 From this support I find. In love it bled for me. M. 
 
MARCH 15. 77 
 
 J laving therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let vs 
 cleanse ourselves from all ^filthiness of the fesh and 
 spirit.... 2 Cor. Vii, 1. 
 
 Cleanse ourselves! What! was holy Paul the subject of filthi- 
 ness? Yes, he as well as all the holy saints of Corinth constantly 
 wanted cleansing by the blood of Christ : Paul again and again 
 declares against the proud notion of sinless perfection ; he well knew 
 that regenerating grace and adopting love, do not entirely destroy 
 the infection of our nature ; but hereby we are brought into a holy 
 state, we are set above the power of sin ; we hate the detilenient of 
 it, and we ever have the precious blood of the Lamb to have recourse 
 to for cleansing from it : "the Son of God has made us free indeed." 
 ....John viii. 36. Free from the slavery of sin, and the bondage of. 
 the law : free to come to him that we may wash our garments and 
 make them white in the blood of the Lamb. Do you see and be- 
 moan that you are the subject of internal as well as external filthi- 
 ncss ? Should you not be ashamed that your fellow christians should 
 know what filthy and abominable thoughts pass through your mind ? 
 Are they not the grief of your very soul ? The Lord knows them 
 all : he has provided and set open a precious fountain for sin and 
 uncleanness.—Zach. xiii. 1. Believe his love : take the benefit of 
 his Son's blood : come freely, come daily, come constantly to it by 
 fiiith : wash and be clean : see the reason for this ; " having these 
 promises: O, consider how great and precious they are. 1st. Of 
 being temples of the living God. 2d. Of his in-dwelling presence. 
 3d. Of his being our God, and we his sons and daughters. 4th. Of 
 God's receiving us, and owning us as such whenever we come to 
 him : most powerful motives for cleansing. See, believers, your 
 precious privileges ; we are not called upon and tirged to cleanse 
 ourselves by the terrors of the law on pain of damnation. No ; but 
 as loving children in a state of salvation, under the covenant of love 
 and grace ; nothing but great and precious promises await us from 
 the love of God our Father, from the grace of God our Redeemer, 
 and from the witness of God our sanctifier ; and, it is by these, we 
 are animated and excited to cleansing and purification. Would it 
 not be a scandal, and a shame to an earthly monarch, for his chil- 
 dren to appear in filthy garments, consort with the low and vulgar 
 of his subjects, and give into their practices? O, ye sons and 
 daughters of the King of kings, consider your dignity ; act up to 
 your high station ; adorn your profession ; walk worthy of your 
 God. 
 
 Lord I've daily need of cleansing. Now I'm in thy new creation, 
 
 By thy most precious blood O cleanse and keep me clean ; 
 
 Filthiness of flesh and spirit Jesus, thou art my salvation. 
 
 Cleave to my ev'ry good. Purge me from ev'ry stain. M. 
 
73 MARCH 16. 
 
 Perfecting holiness hi tJicfear of God. ..,2 Cor. vii. 1. 
 
 Who are thus exhorted? Saints in Christ. What for? to 
 labor to get perfect holiness to obtain the favor of God ? No : they 
 are already perfectly justified in his si^ht and sanctified to his glory: 
 but some reject this ; they legalize the gospel, (if I may so speak) 
 imder a specious shew for holiness, as though that was to procure 
 more for us from God than the blood and righteousness of his dear 
 Son : this is aiming to perfect holiness, in ignorance and unbe- 
 lief ; this eclipses the glory of Christ's M'ork for us, inverts the 
 order of gospel oeconomy, and brings perplexity and distress upon 
 God's children : for, this is the glory of the gospel, that moment a sin- 
 ner is justified by the faith of Christ, he is sanctified by the Spirit of 
 Christ. Our title to heaven and our meetness for glory, come to- 
 gether by the same rich gmce : being brought into the sense of 
 God's favor, we have also suitable dispositions to enjoy him. What 
 then ? Are we to be idle in the christian life, to live and walk ac- 
 cording to the course of this world, iulfiling our carnal lusts? No: 
 those who do, have no reason to think they possess a holy faith in a 
 holy Jesus, or that a holy God is their father in Christ. Saint of 
 God, thou art called to perfect holiness in the fear of God. 1st. 
 How is this to be done? By living a life of faith on the Son of God, 
 who cnme to destroy die works of sin and satan, and to conform us 
 to the image of God. We arc daily to look to Christ, to be sancti- 
 fication in us, as well as righteousness to us ; we have daily sins to 
 be subdued, graces to be exercised, and duties to be performed. 
 Only the grace of Christ is sufficient for us : and by that w^e are 
 enabled to go on, pcrfectmg holiness. It is a constant, progressive 
 work. No one is perfect in holiness. Every saint is going on pkr- 
 FECTiNG it to the end of life in the holy, loving fear of the Lord. 
 2d. Why is this to be done ? It is our calling : we must follow it as 
 our trade: the more holiness from Christ, the more happiness with 
 him : it brings honor and glory to Christ; it proves that his religion 
 is of a holy nature, that we possess a holy faith, and that it works by 
 the love of Christ in holy love to him: so it puts to silence the igno- 
 rance of foolish men by living down their carnal objection, that the 
 doctrine of absolute, unconditional salvation leads to licentiousness. 
 Yet, 3d. Here is no room for legal boasting of our holiness; for 
 "the Lord works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure," 
 ....Phil. ii. 1 3. In all that we are and do, we are to follow after holiness: 
 "Holiness to the Lord, shall be upon the bells of the horses.".... 
 Zech. xiv. 20. 
 
 Lord daily teadi me more and more, O let thy fear dwell in my heart, 
 The way to joy and hliss, Ltst 1 should thee olVcnd, 
 
 That ail who reach the heav'nly shore, And trom thy lioiy ways depart, 
 Must walk in holiness. And hold out to the end. M 
 
MARCH 17. 79 
 
 Whosoever liveth aJid bdkveth in me shall never diey be- 
 lievest thou this f... John xi. 26. 
 
 In great declining of strength, dejection of spirits, and in con- 
 sideration of the near approach of death, these precious words of 
 our dear Lofd were brought to my mind ; ihty were as a comforting, 
 reviving draught to my spirits. Lord I !)less thee for them. O, njy 
 soul, dwell on them. Am I a sinner born to die ? Is death the 
 wages of sin ? Must these eyes which now read thy precious sayings 
 be soon closed by death ? Must the hand which now directs this pen 
 be shortly still" in death ? Yet dost thou my Lord say, living and be- 
 lieving in thee, I shall never die. Dost thou ask me, " BelifeTest 
 thou this? Lord, thou who know est all things, knowest that by tliy 
 grace I can say, tuou art thk Son of God : thou hast fulfilled 
 thine own promise, " C) death, I will be thy plague. O grave, I 
 ■will be thy destruction.".. ..Hosea xiii. 14. '• l)e«tth is swallowed up 
 in victory."....! Cor. xv. 54. " Shall never die :" death has lost his 
 form ; he is changed from a substance into a shadow. ...Psalm 
 xxiii. 4. Only children and fcols are afraid of a shadow. Glory to thee 
 my Lord, that I am a man in understanding, and by thee am made 
 " wise unto salvation." Death has lost both his sting and his 
 strength ; sin is atoned ; the law is fulfilled : I believe in thee, O 
 Jesu, who hath done both for the victory ; 'tis mine ; I have it in 
 possession ; thy word cannot fail ; thou hath said, " I shall never 
 die." The terrors of death are changed into the sweet composure 
 of sleep. I shall soon fall into this precious rest, sleep in thee ; 
 thou shall soon wipe away all tears from mine eyes ; I shall awake 
 with thee, and sin and sorrow shall be no more for ever. O, well 
 mayest thou ask, " Belicvest thou this ?" For in the faith of this 
 consists all my comfort, which results in loving thee and glorifying 
 thee in life and in death. 
 
 " Faith works by love :" it works by the Fatlier's everlasting love, 
 in giving his only Son to be our Saviour: it works hy the precious 
 love of thee, thou sin-atoning, law-fulfilling, justice-satisfying, 
 death-conquering Son of God : it works by the love of thee, thou 
 «oul-renewing, faith-begetting, sin-subduing spirit of holiness and 
 truth. This is the given principle of love, which faith springs from, 
 lives upon, and works by : here faith is all in all ; for it brings 
 Christ and all his victories into the heart, puts death and every 
 enemy under our feet, "silences all satan's accusations and all legal 
 condemnations : " this is the victory, even our faith.".... 1 John v. 4. 
 
 O soul reviving joy of faith, Christ lives and says, I ne'er shall die. 
 
 Which lives upon my Saviour's word ! His word I'm sure he will fulfil: 
 It triumphs o'er thepow'rs of death, He's truth itself, he cannot lie, 
 Posscst ftf TJcl'ry in my Lord. And dsath is subject to' his will. M*. 
 
so MARCH 18. 
 
 Behwed, if our Iwarl condemn us nofy then have zee con- 
 Jidence towards (jod....\ John iii. 21. 
 
 A TEXT misapplied, is like a bone out of joint, which puts the 
 body to pain : this text may have such an effect upon the soul ; for, 
 vhat poor sinner is there upon earth, but his heart must condemn 
 him for coming short of God's glory and perfect obedience to his 
 holy law ? Must he therefore give iip his confidence towards God ? 
 Yes, if we so understand the text. But surely this was not the 
 apostle's design ; for this would efleclually destroy love to God, and 
 distress his dear children's souls, by taking away the comfort of 
 faith, that " there is no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus,".... 
 Rom. viii. 1. What meaneth he then? Plainly to establish our 
 hearts in the faith of God's love to us in Christ, and from this love 
 experienced in the heart, in love to our brethren in Christ : this is 
 an experienced truth, if faith and love abate, our hearts condemn us 
 and our confidence towards God grows weak : in proportion to our 
 lively faith and warm love, confidence towards God is strong. 1st. 
 As to faith: the apostle calls on us....l John iii. 1. "Behold 
 what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
 sTiould be called the sons of God." Now, are you beholding, be- 
 lieving and living upon this stupenduous love of God in Christ ? Are 
 you dwelling upon it? Does it engage your attention? Does it 
 captivate your affections ? Does it swallow up the low, mean, inor- 
 dinate love of the world ? If not your heart will condemn you ; 
 your confidence in God will abate ; you will not delight in him with 
 the aflection of a child, nor draw nigh to him with joyful gladness, 
 as to your loving fiUhcr. So, 2d. Of love : love to the brethren 
 of Christ the apostle is here treating of: lively faith in Christ ever 
 begets warm love to our brethren ; then v/e have strong confidence 
 towards God, that he is our loving Father and we his obedient 
 children ; but if love be wanting, our hearts will smite and reproacli 
 us and confidence in God forsake us. See hence, that all our com- 
 forts spring from our confidence towards God, and all our distress 
 from our hearts condemning us for want of faith and love. O, let us 
 cry to the blessed Spirit, to enable us to live more upon the love, the 
 matchless, everlasting, unchangeable love of God to us in Christ 
 Jchus. Let us be thankful that he has given us feeling hearts, 
 which are not like the wicked, hardened by the deceitfulness of sin ; 
 but are tender, to feel the least condenmatioh ; and when our hearts 
 condemii us, let us flee to our great high-priest, who is touched 
 with a feeling of our infirmities.. ..lieb. iv. 15. 
 
 My heart doth oft condemn, But still he bids me care 
 
 When God condemneth not : To walk in faith and love, 
 
 He JMStitics me in the I.amb, In him, and to his children dear, 
 
 And all my sins, doth blot. And taite his joys above. M, 
 
MARCH 19. 81 
 
 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest 
 he fall.... I C(7f\ X. 12. 
 
 Formal professors of his name are called the Lord's people, as 
 well as those who are possessors of his love: the former for want 
 of love to God have no zeal for his glory : hence they are careless 
 of their walk and are liable to fall from the height of a towering 
 profession into the bottomless pit of perdition. Possessors of Gods 
 love are also liable to fall, though not out of the hands of Christ into 
 hell, yet into many things which may wound their souls, bring a 
 hell into their consciences, a dishonor on the name and gospel of 
 Christ, and give the enemies thereof an occasion to blaspheme that 
 worthy name by which they are called. O Christians, see to your 
 standing : you are called upon as you love your da;ar Saviour, as 
 you value the peace of God, and the comfort of your souls, " to take 
 heed lest you fall." Be not high minded, but fear: you stand by 
 faith, the dreadful falls of others are here set before us for ensam- 
 ples, types or patterns of the awful judgment of God against sin, 
 and as a warning to us to beware that we fall not as they did. 1st. 
 Into idolatry : O, beware of sacrificing your precious time and atten- 
 tion to heathenish vanities. Any thing that takes your heart from 
 God is an idol. Mixing with the wicked and profane, to partake 
 of their carnal joys, is a species of idolatry. You as good as say, 
 I cannot find complete happiness in my God, therefore I seek it 
 here: "covetousness is idolatry. "....Col. iii. 5. A covetous man seeks 
 that in his gold which can only be enjoyed io God: be sure the 
 anger of the Lord will smoke against such. 2d. "Fornication." O, 
 beware of this gross sin of the flesh, and ajso of spiritual fornica- 
 tion against your Lord Christ. 3d. "They tempted Christ:" O, be- 
 ware how you distrust the grace, power, and faithfulness of Christ 
 to keep you and comfort you, so as to withdraw your faith in him, 
 hope on him, and prayer to him : or tempt him, by presuming on 
 his power to keep you, in the midst of snares and temptations you 
 wilfully run into. 4th. "They murmured:" O, watch against a 
 spirit of dissatisfaction with the dispensations of providence, and 
 the displays of grace : the pride of our nature is prone to find fault 
 with both. What caused all this ? Why, 5th. " They lusted after 
 evil things :" this is the source and spring of every sin : •' When lust 
 hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, 
 bringeth forth death. ".... James i. 15. What is the sovereign anti- 
 dote against all this? Standing in, and walking by the faith of the Son 
 of God: this brings fellowship with God. Hence lust is killed in 
 the heart, that it cannot break out into sin in the life: "Be ye 
 therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."....! Pet. iv. 7. 
 Vol. H. L 
 
82 MARCH 20. 
 
 The kingdom of God is not in word, bid in power..., 
 1 Cor. iv. 20. 
 
 It is the wisdom of a christian to improve from the various 
 objects he meets with: see we an open profane sinner? Beware of 
 looking doAvn upon him with Pharisaic pride and supercilious con- 
 tempt: behold in him your own wicked nature: remember grace 
 alone made the difierence: be humble; adore the God of grace: see 
 we only the form of godliness in any ? Paul tells us how to act : 
 "from such turn away,".. ..2 Tim. iii. 5. You will get no good from 
 tlicm: there is little hope of doing good to them; leave them: 
 why so ? Because they are strangers to the vital power of godliness 
 and destitute of the inward experience of the grace of Christ upon 
 their souls : true they may make a great shew ; have vast zeal for 
 the interest of a party ; be very warm and violent for the form of 
 sound words, a consistent plan of doctrine and a set of scripture 
 notions ; but yet after all, it is but the notion and form of things 
 which float in their heads, and swim on the surface of their under- 
 standings : their hearts are dead to the love of Christ, but alive to the 
 love of the world : they join the men of the world in their contemp- 
 tuous sneer upon the power of self-denying godliness : and in irreli- 
 gious banter upon those who seperate themselves from the ungodly 
 and profane, and live and walk under the influence of spiritual feel- 
 ings and experience: all thjs they account precise folly, and condemn 
 as rank enthusiasm. Have you the power of godliness ? Is Christ 
 the power of God in your heart? Is your soul alive to him ? Is your 
 body the temple of the Holy Ghost? Does God dwell in you, and 
 delight over you ? Is it your daily delight to study the word, rely 
 upon the promises, taste the grace, feel the power, feed upon the 
 comfort and live upon the fullness of the love of Christ? What have 
 you to do with the men who are content with mere form, shadow or 
 notion ; and are strangers to the power of all this ? Catch the infec- 
 tion of their secure spirit you may : by such the keen edge of your 
 spiritual affections may be blunted ; you may be drawn to lie supinely 
 down by them and into spiritual slumber with them; But of all men 
 there is the least hope of these rising from their security, running 
 the heavenly race with you, and of being. spiritually profitable to you 
 think of this and turn from them: know your danger: though not 
 of losing your soul, yet of losing the life, comfort and power of god- 
 liness: O, what is a christian without this? How comfortless the 
 moments? How dejecting the hours? How distressing the days! 
 How doleful the nights without experiencing the power of Christ ! 
 Yea, what is life itself, without the experience of his grace and love ! 
 
MARCH 21. 83 
 
 And'he bowed himself and said, ichat is thy servant that 
 thou shoiddest look upon such a dead dog as I am P.... 
 2 Sam. ix. 8. 
 
 Old love cannot he forgotten ; it makes such deep, and leaves 
 such lasting impressions on the mind, Avhich time itself cannot 
 efface. This was verified in David and Jonathan : the latter is dead ; 
 yet love to his memory lives in David's heart: hence he enquires 
 after the remains of his family, to shew kindness unto them. 
 Mephibosheth, the lame son of Jonathan is introduced to the king : 
 he thus expresses the affection of his royal heart to him. " Fear 
 not, for I will surely shew kindness to thee for Jonathan thy father's 
 sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou 
 shalt eat bread at my table continually." Had any of David's sub- 
 jects a right to arraign, and call him to an account for this sovereign 
 act of favor? ^Vhich of them would dare to say unto him, what 
 dost thou ? But yet proud hearts rise with indignation and utter their 
 horrid speeches against the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, 
 for dispensing his free favor and rich grace which he owes to none, 
 to whom he pleases. See how Mephibosheth is affected. Struck 
 with astonishment he bows with humility, and rates himself, a 
 DKAD DOG : totally undeserving such signal favors. Generous love, 
 in freely bestowing unmerited mercies, sink reflecting minds into 
 deep humility and self abasement. O that God's free grace to us 
 in Jesus may so affect us. Did such love dwell in David's heart to 
 all who belonged to Jonathan ? Then 1st. Here is a picture of the 
 everlasting, infinite and immutable love of God to all who belong to 
 Jesus. Jonathan signifies ihe gift of the Lord, this Christ is to us. 
 2d. Did David enquire after them? So God sends his Spirit to 
 seek us. " Thou shalt be called, sought out.".... Lsa. Ixii. 12. Sd. 
 Was Mephibosheth lame in his feet? We are so crippled by sin, 
 that we cannot run the way of God's commandments ; yet 4th. Says 
 David, " fear not." So saith our God, "fear not, I have called thee 
 by thy name," a sinner.... lsa. xliii. 1. 5th. Says David, "I will 
 surely shew kindness to thee :" " With everlasting kindness will I 
 have mercy on thee saith the Lord. "....lsa. liv. 8. 6th. " I will re- 
 store thee all thy father's land." It is your Father's good pleasure 
 to give you the kingdom. 7th. " Thou shalt eat bread continually." 
 '' We are appointed to eat bread at our Lord's table in his kingdom." 
 ....Luke xxii. 8. 8th. Why is all this ? " For Jonathan thy father's 
 sake." O sinner, be it known unto thee, all the favors in time and to 
 eternity are bestowed on thee for Jesus the Son of God's sake onlv. 
 Now what say you to all this ? Will you not fall down and own, I 
 am as a dead dog, and deserve to be as a damned devil 1 " But grace 
 reigns."....Rom.v. 21. 
 
84 MARCH 22. 
 
 Tlie Father seeketh such to worship him.... John iv. 25. 
 
 Error is natural lofollen man: he sets his lace against truth, 
 and turns his back upon it Avith contempt: the more error abounds 
 with pride and self-sufficiency, so much the more is it suited to our 
 corrupt nature: hence we are naturally Pelagians : we cannot think 
 Adam's sin has hurt us, or else Semipclagians, though we confess 
 our souls are wounded by Adam's sin, yet we cannot think we are 
 totally dead to God thereby ; but as it were only half dead : so that 
 we still possess some po\Ver and ability to see God and to please 
 him if we will but exert ourselves. This is the popular doctrine of 
 our day : it tickles man's pride and keeps up his self importance. 
 Hence this dry, shrivelled, comment is put upon our Lord's words: 
 that if we will but stir up ourselves to seek God, possess our minds 
 with an habitual sense of religion, and worship him in spirit and 
 truth, he then will seek us and delight in us." This is reading the 
 scriptures backward : putting the cart to draw the horse, and sup- 
 posing an effect to be productive of its cause : but in opposition to this, 
 consider, seeking implies, 1st. That we are lost ; so, "the Son of 
 man came to seek and to save that which was lost. "....Matt, xviii. 1 1. 
 " He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "....xv. 24. 
 Who ever heard of a lost sheep seeking alter its shepherd? The 
 Father seeks us before we seek him : our seeking him is the effect 
 of his finding us. Hence every member of Christ's church " shall 
 be called, sought ouT."....Isa. Ixii. 12. O this endears the love of 
 our Father to our souls ! 2d. It implies his knowledge of us. What 
 he says of Jeremiah is true of all his people : " before I formed thee 
 in the belly I knew th^e, and before thou earnest forth out of the womb 
 I sanctified thee,"....Jer. i. 5. He knew us from eternity in the 
 covenant: chose us in Christ, and sanctified, or separated us for 
 himself to worship him in spirit and in truth, in time. O this lays 
 us under everlasting obligation to love, adore and praise our heavenly 
 Father ! 3d. Seeking us, implies love to us, and propriety in us. 
 Who seeks for that which they set no value upon? Who searches 
 after a person they do not love ? Who will take pains to look for that 
 which is not their own property ? The woman who had lost the piece 
 of money, sought it diligently, and rejoiced greatly when she had 
 found it ; for it w as her own. Smile who will at the simile, it is just. 
 There is as much disposition in a lost piece of money to seek its 
 owner, as there is in a lost sinner to seek his God. Hast thou found 
 God? Dost thou know h'm as thy Father? Uost thou worship him 
 in spirit and in truth? O, resolve it all into his fatherly love in first 
 seeking thee : for thus saith the Lord, " I am found of them whe 
 sought me not."....Isa. Ixv. 1. 
 
MARCH 23. 85 
 
 Make vie to hear joy and gladness, that the hones zchick 
 thou hast broken may rejoice. ...Psalm li. 8. 
 
 Of all the curses of sin, good Lord deliver us from Antinomian 
 licentiousness, which consists, in being so hardened by the deceit- 
 fulness of sin, as to make light of it. Though David had been 
 awfully licentious in his practice, yet we see the grace of the saint 
 s'line forth in his brokenness of heart, sorrow of soul, and contrition 
 of spirit for his sins. Never quote David's dreadful fall, without 
 his deep, soul-afiected, heart-broken sorrow and repentance : never 
 think of one without the other ; lest you think slightly of the most 
 cursed evil of all evils, wilful sin, against a gracious God. O, who 
 can tell the horrors of soul, and terrors of conscience David felt 
 when he uttered these words ! Consider them, O my soul : the Lord 
 mal:e sin more dreadful to thy view, and hateful in thy sight. 1st. 
 Spiritual joy and gladness of soul in the Lord hath forsaken him : 
 what had the gratifying his cursed lusts, and vile passions brought 
 upon him ! A guilty conscience, a heavy heart, and a disconsolate 
 sovd : the spirit of peace and joy was grieved at his conduct, and 
 withdrawn from his soul : satan the tempter, was now his accuser : 
 the ghost of Uriah appeared to his mind ; the thought of Bath- 
 sheba brought hell into his conscience : all within was terror : all 
 around distress, and all above horror : but the Lord had not given 
 him up to a reprobate mind ; he convinced him of sin, and, by 
 grace, broke his heart for it. Hence, behold he prayeth : O Avas 
 it possiljle to recall the cursed, hellish lust, and bloody deed, he 
 would rather have parted with his crown and kingdom than ever 
 have committed them. What would he not now give, to hear the 
 joy of pardon from God, to make glad his soul ? I'or, 2d. he com- 
 plains of broken bones. Who can describe the pains of mind he 
 now felt ? A broken bone must be extremely painful ; but he seems 
 to feel, as though all the bones in his body were broken : Lord de- 
 liver us from sin which caused it ! But why does he ascribe their 
 being broken to God ? Did not his fall cause it ? Yes. But he lay 
 many months, (as it were,) numbed by his fall, and insensible of 
 his hurt ; but God convinced him of his sins, and quickened him to 
 feel pain. O ye fools who make a mock of sin, see God breaks the 
 bones even of his beloved saints lor it : better to groan with broken 
 bones on earth, than under damnation in hell. O think of David's 
 pains, and groans, under a sense of sin : remember Peter went out 
 and wept bitterly for sin : see hence the exceeding sinfulness of sin, 
 but forget not the Saviour, " whose precious blood cleanseth from 
 ALL sin."....l John i. 7. 
 
 Against thee Lord I sinned kave, O, let me for thy mercy crave, 
 
 . And brought distress upon my soul, To heal my soul, and make me whole. 
 
»6 MARCH 21. 
 
 Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes.... Psalm xxvi. 3. 
 
 This causes a peaceful conscience, a happy heart, and a holy 
 life. What is meant by loving kindness ? It is love expressed by 
 action : the affection of the heart manifested by acts of kindness. 
 Thus the Lord speaks of his Church in general, and of every indi- 
 vidual member of it in particular: " I have loved thee with an ever- 
 lasting love. What then ? This love manifests itself in time thus : 
 "therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee."....Jer. xxxi. 3. 
 " I will betroth thee unto me forever in loving kindness.".. ..Hos. 
 ii. 19. Being thus betrothed and drawn to the Lord our souls have 
 a sight and sense of his loving kindness : Avhat is meant by its being 
 " before our eyes ?" Its engaging the attention of our mind, captiva- 
 ting the affections of our heart, seeing one's interest in it, feeling 
 the refreshments of it, and rejoicing on account of it: knowing 
 there is no separiition from it. Thus everlasting love provides a 
 Saviour, almighty grace draws poor sinners to him, and then loving 
 kindness becomes the glory of our hearts, and the joy of our squls. 
 We love it and meditate upon it ; we not only see it, but feast upon 
 it, and are astonished at it : we cry out with David, " thy loving 
 kindness is better than life itself. "....Psalm Ixiii. 3. For all our 
 comforts in life flow from it : it is marvellous in our eyes : it exceeds 
 expression : is beyond conception. Besides these internal effects 
 upon the mind, the loving kindness of the Lord, hath external 
 influence' upon the life : David adds, " and I have walked in thy 
 truth." Without this, all niight be the flights of lowering passions, 
 and the sallies of a heated imagination : but now all is well with the 
 poor siimcr ; his heart is not oioly happy, but his life is holy : to 
 walk in the truth, is tt) walk contrary to the deceitful hopes, lyings 
 vanities, and carnal delights of the men of this world ; it is to walk 
 not in self-righteous confidence, no more than in lawless licentious- 
 ness ; but in Christ who is the truth : in holy fellowship with him, 
 humble dependence on him, growing love to him, and longing 
 expectation of eternally enjoying him. O Christian, are your sins 
 ever before you ? Let the loving kindness of Jehovah, Father, Son 
 and Spirit, ever be before your eyes : this is the glory of saints 
 above ; let this be your glory below ; for, "tlnis saith the Lord, let 
 him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandcth and knoweth 
 me, that I am the Loud which exercise loving kindness, judgment 
 and righteousness in the earth : for in these things 1 delight saith 
 the Lord."....Jer. ix. 24. 
 
 My God ! how matchless is thy love ? It draws mine heart to joys above, 
 I'.s kind;iess is before mine eyes ; And all th) holy ways to prize. M. 
 
MARCH 25. 87 
 
 Behold the skin of /he face of Moses shone, and Ihcij were 
 (fraid to come nigh hini....Exod. xxxiv. 50. 
 
 Here see the gIorio\is eifect of being on the mount with God, 
 of having free access to him, and holy converse with him. When 
 we draw niglf to God and he draws nigh to us, our souls catch of 
 the splendor and glory of his grace : thi^ revives our countenance 
 and makes our face to shine ; here is somewhat worthy our atten- 
 tion, for the holy inspirer calls upon us, behold : Lord give us to 
 behold this to our ediiication and conifort. 1st. " When Moses 
 came down from the mount, his face shone, but he knev/ it not:" 
 O, it is well for us, when we are so wholly taken up with the 
 majesty and glory of our Lord, and see such splendor of grace and 
 love shine on his countenance, as not to be looking at ourselves 
 and admiring our own gifts and graces : it is to imitate fops and 
 fribbles in nature, to look in a glass to admire ourselves ; " to fall in 
 love with one's own beauty is to play the harlot."... .Ezek. xvi. 15. 
 2d. Though Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone, yet 
 others saw it and were afraid to come near him : here behold the 
 glory and majesty of the holy law of God ; like the face of Moses, 
 it darts its piercing rays of light and terror into the consciences of 
 poor sinners : it works wrath, it fills the soul with the knowledge 
 of sin, the fear of hell, and the dread of damnation : there is a 
 glory in the law, though it ministers nothing hut condemnation. 3d. 
 The face of Moses shone so that he was forced to put a vail on it 
 while he was talking to the people : did such a little of the glory of 
 the law shine in the face of Moses, but with borrowed splendor 
 that they could not behold his face ? Then how terrifying, how 
 dreadfid for sinners to stand before the majesty of divine justice, 
 and to be arraigned by divine truth, as transgressors of the holy 
 law of God ? Who can bear the thought \nthout terror ? Who can 
 bear the sight without death and destruction from the presence of 
 the Lord ? O, think of the law in all its dread and terror : see sin 
 in all its exceeding sinfullncss ; and consider, 4th. The ministration 
 of righteousness which exceeds in glory through the love and grace 
 of our dear Mediator : we are called to behold him, but not with a 
 vail upon his face : " for we all with open face beholding as in a gflass, 
 <he glory of the Lord.".... 2 Cor. iii. 18. 5th. Did the Lord cause 
 the face of Moses thus to shine ? Eternal praises to him, " he hath 
 ahined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the 
 glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. "....2 Cor. iv. 6. In him 
 we see the law fulfiled, its curse sustained, our souls redeemed 
 from all its terror and bondage, and brought into the glorious liberty 
 of the sons of God. " Ye are not under the law but under grace." 
 ....Rom. vi. 14. 
 
88 MARCH 26. 
 
 Il'lien ye shall have done all those things which are com- 
 manded ijou, say tee are unprofitable servants : tee have 
 done that zvhich teas our duty to do....Lulie xvii. 10. 
 
 This is a fatal stab to human merit; this a deadly blow to 
 sinless perfection : O, flee the notion of any merit in thee or thy 
 works, as from the face of the devil ; it is of the pride of satan : 
 avoid the thoiie;ht of beini^ perfect in thyself as thou -wouldest the 
 most damnal)le lie : it ariseth from self-deceit and is established 
 through ignorance of (iod's holy law. Our dear Lord here instructs 
 us to be active, yet humble ; to be obedient, yet self-abased : to do 
 all things, yet own our unprofitableness after all : beware you do 
 not learn to decry that word duty ; it is very common for many so 
 to do, as implying nothing but what is legal : thy Lord here uses it ; 
 be not wiser than thy master : true thou art freed from all slavish 
 duty and legal bondage, in order to be justified and saved thereby. 
 But run not hence into lawless liberty ; thou art bound to obey by 
 the love of God thy Father : commanded to serve thy Saviour Jesus, 
 and this, with the affections of a dutiful son, and with the love of a 
 sincere friend. " We serve the Lord Christ, knowing that of the 
 Lord, we shall receive (as a free gift of grace not earned by duty and 
 works) the reward of the inheritance. "....Col. iii. 24. The rule of 
 the duty of love, are the commands of the law of love : the end 
 of obeying them is, not to make us righteous : not to exalt us 
 in our own eyes : not to lay a foundation for, and build ourselves up 
 in self-righteous confidence : No; says our Lord, after you have 
 done all, renounce all ; humble yourselves under all ; say we are 
 unprofitable servants in all. Well, but is not this very discouraging 
 both to doing and hoping? Not to doing. The end of that is to 
 adorn the gospel of grace, to glorify the God of grace, to shew a 
 good example to the world and to evidence tiie faith, love and hope 
 of your soul ; that you are alive to God, and tliat these graces are 
 alive in you. Not to hoping. Do you dread that sentence cast the 
 unprofitable servant into outer darkness ?....Mat. xxv. 30. That is 
 one who is disobedient, and to every g(X)d work reprobate : who is 
 a stranger to pure fliith, holy love and sincere obedience. All such 
 are Avithout hope in Jesus, but unprofitable as ye are, see, and 
 confess yourselves to be, and though you havf no confidence in 
 yourselves, or your own doing: yet you are commanded, to rejoice 
 in Christ Jesus, " and again rejoice,".... Phil. iv. 4. "For he of 
 God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and 
 redemption. "....-I Cor. i. 30. " And we arc made perfectly accepted 
 in bini."....F,phes. i. <). 
 
MARCH 27. 89 
 
 If w€ live in the Spirit, let its also walk in the Spirit.... 
 Gal. V. 25. 
 
 These two things the enemy of souls, works powerfully 
 Rgainst : 1st. To keep sinners from coming to Christ for salvation : 
 2d. When they are come, to prevent their enjoying the comfortable 
 knowledge that Christ is their Saviour : and our own legal hearts 
 and wicked natures, join the enemy of our peace and salvation in 
 both ; but love lives and reigns above ; our Saviour sees how it is 
 with us, and sends the power of his Spirit to help, relieve, and com- 
 fort us ; the dear Spirit, when dead in sin quickens us : then he 
 guides us in our walk. What need we then of exhortations ? Much, 
 yery much ; for, consider, the walk is ours : to order our steps 
 aright, is by the grace of the holy Spirit. 3d. Our comfortable 
 enjoyment of our interest in Christ, is experienced in a holy walk, 
 or walking in the Spirit : the battle is the Lord's. Yet David was 
 to engage and conquer Goliah ; " the Lord gave him the victory.".... 
 i Sam. xvii. 47. Therefore, 4th. Exhortations point out our weak- 
 ness, our need of the Spirit's help, and they excite us to pray for it. 
 What is it to walk in the Spirit? 1st. It is to mind the things of 
 the Spirit ; those spiritual truths revealed in the gospel, concerning 
 our hope of eternal life, by the sin-atoning death, and law-fulfilling 
 life of the Son of God ; it is to set our affections upon Christ, seek 
 all our happiness in him, and expect daily comfort from him ; to 
 make his precious blood and everlasting righteousness our constant 
 plea, expecting the reviving sense of God the Father's favor and 
 love to us, only in him. 2d. It is to go forward, step by step, day 
 after day, looking for, and depei>ding on the spirit's assistance, to 
 keep our souls close to Jesus, and to maintain fellowship with him ; 
 and to shew that our hearts are simple and sincere, we shall be 
 diligent in the means of grace, studious to exercise our graces on 
 Christ, and be uniform in the discharge of every duty ; what a 
 blessed walk is this 1 This is the walk of comfort, peace and holi- 
 ness ; do you not find it so ? Persevere in it : so will you walk above 
 the accusing terrors of the law, the groveling life of sense, the 
 defiling life of lusts, the vain life of worldly pleasures, and the 
 distressing life of satan's power : wouldst thou enjoy spiritual com- 
 forts ? These can only be found in a spiritual walk ; dost thou com- 
 plain for want of them ? Examine thy walk ; say not this is legal : 
 what ! is it legal, to follow the lamb wheresoever he goeth ? Be- 
 ware, lest carnal notions prevail, and by living after the flesh you 
 condemn, what is truly evangelical and spiritual : " they who are 
 after the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit."... .Rom. viii. 5. 
 Vot. IL M 
 
©0 MARCH 28. 
 
 / will sozv her to me in llic earlh^ and I xvill have mercy 
 upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to 
 them which were not my people, tiiou art my people^ and 
 they shall say, thou art my God....Hosea ii. 23. 
 
 Declarations of grace depend not on the will of the flesh 
 for their accomplishment : sovereign power, brings sovereign pur- 
 poses to effect ; human will can neither forward nor frustrate them : 
 8o the Lord raises up and forms a people for his own glory on earth, 
 and the redeemer's crown in heaven : see the process of it. 1 st. I 
 ■WILL sow HER ; this alludes to the v.ord Jezreel in the last verse 
 which signifies the seed of God ; God's people are his own precious 
 seed ; he sows them in the earth. 2d. Unto me as they are sown 
 by him, they spring up unto him : though they lie long under the 
 clods of nature's darkness and corruption, and for a while spring up 
 only to the world, the flesh and the devil, yet there is a set time to 
 favor them ; a fixed day of power to come upon them : men do not 
 sow their precious seed, and care no more about it ; neither doth 
 the Lord. For, 3d. I will have merct upon her, who had 
 NOT obtained mercy. His eye of care preserves, till his day 
 of mercy comes j It is as impossible for an elect redeemed soul 
 to perish without mercy, as for the truth of God to fail : " it is 
 inipossible for God to lie."....Heb. vi. 18. The truth of God is the 
 joy of faith : Paul, though exceeding mad against Christ obtained 
 mercy from him ; the thief on the cross obtained mercy at the last 
 hour. Your soul, mine, and every soul that is called, converted 
 and justified by the faith of Christ, obtains this from mere mercy, 
 just in the same way ; because justice is satisfied by Christ ; mercy 
 flows from God through him, to us. 4th. I will sat to them 
 
 WHICH WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, THOU ART MY PEOPLE. God'S VoicC 
 
 of love comes to us, his grace challenges us, his power apprehends 
 us, before we apprehend him ; we are children of wrath by nature ; 
 we are at enmity against God, and fly from God : but the good 
 shepherd seeks us ; he clainis us as his own sheep ; as the gift of 
 his Father ; as the purchase of his blood : he manifests himself to 
 \is, and gives us faith in his name. Then, 5th. they shall say 
 Thou art my God, my God! O, how much is contained in this ! 
 Now there is peace in the conscience, love in the heart, and joy in 
 the soul ; the sinner can never be happy, till he tlius appropriates 
 the Lord to himself: then the soul is inspired with a holy loving 
 fear, and excited to a cheerful walk ; a hope full of immortality is 
 in the heart : this is ever in the eye, " all is of God who hath recon- 
 ciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ.".. ..2 Cor. v. 18. 
 
MARCH 29. 91 
 
 Cease yc from man whose brealh is hi his nostrils y for 
 ivherein is he to be accounted ofK...lsa. \\. 22, 
 
 This precious text our dear Lord preached to my heart day 
 after day, upwards of twenty years ago, when it first pleased him 
 to make mc happy in his love : though not then, yet I have since 
 seen abundant cause for it. That soul is in good health that can say, 
 I am sick of sin, sick of men, and sick of myself: the Lord is 
 teaching us this lesson day after day : it is a hard one to flesh and 
 blood ; for we are naturally prone to look to, trust in and depend 
 upon an arm of flesh: but this is to depart in heart from the Lord: 
 a curse is denounced upon this....Jer. xvii. 5. Consider man's breath 
 is in his nostrils: the best of men are subjects of- sin and liable to 
 the stroke of death. The breath that promises you great things to- 
 day, ere to-morrow's dawn may be vanished into air, and all your 
 hopes blasted. The arm of flesh which to-day is strong and stretched 
 forth in your service, to-morrow may be stiff in death, ail your 
 expectations buried in the grave of despair, and you left in disap- 
 pointment and vexation: whereof is man to be accounted? In his 
 best estate he is altogether vanity. " Cease yc from man," yea, 
 from professors too: you are in danger of being hurt by them also : 
 I have and therefore speak from experience. Here is our danger : 
 we are apt to think too highly of ministers and professors: even 
 Paul, cautions against this, " lest any man should think of me above 
 that which he seeth me to be. "....2 Cor. xii. 6. Vou entertain a very 
 high opinion of such-an-one; perhaps you may soon see something 
 in him you little expected : you are stumbled, you get into reason- 
 ing ; he falls away from the hope of the gospel, (how many awful 
 instances have I known, both of eminent ministers and great pro- 
 fessors I) you arc staggered, you'know not what to think: up comes 
 Mr. Devil wiih, ah! you sec it is all a delusion: give all up ; follow 
 the gospel no longer. But om* Loiii would have our hearts simply 
 looking to him, therefore he bids us "cease from man." He is ihe 
 only precious man, we are never to cease from: in him there is 
 none occasion of stumbling ; he is a perfkct man; fix your eye 
 steadily upon him ; seek all your perfection in him ; look for all 
 your comforts from hiui ; cease fiom yourself; avoid all self-confi- 
 dence ; flee all self-complacency : cease from self-righteous, vain- 
 glorious, self-deceived liars, who say they are perfect and have no 
 9in in them. Ever look at, ever glory in that dear man in whom we 
 are perfect, '' presented to the Father, holy, unblameable and 
 unreprovable in hb sight.".. ..Col. i. 22. 
 
 We're prone alas! to trust in man, Convince us of this foolish plan, 
 
 And from our Goddei>art, Lord take and keep our h«art. 
 
92 MARCH 30. 
 
 Jf xve walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fd' 
 lowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
 his Son deanseth us from all sin.... \ John i. 7. 
 
 The walk of many professors seems to speak this languaj^p, 
 vhy cannot we love the world, indulge ourselves in the ways of it, 
 and yet enjoy fellowship with God ? Now we have clear notions of 
 the doctrines of grace, of acceptance with God, and justification 
 before him, why need we be so very precise in our conduct? As 
 though they were desirous to walk as near as possible to the very 
 borders of hell, and yet hope to get safe to heaven at last : such 
 ■walk not in the light of truth ; in the comforts of love ; in fellowship 
 with God. 1st. What is fellowship with God? It is a sweet heart- 
 felt concord, harmony and agreement between God and our souls: 
 a mutual communion of spirits ; a free communication from the 
 Lord to us, and from us to the Lord: just as two loving friends have 
 between each other, as though but one soul possessed them both. 
 Lord, to what a high, holy and honorable state are we miserable 
 sinners admitted: eternal thanks to thee, O Jesu, through whom 
 we are admitted ; and to thee, O Holy Spirit, who hast formed iis 
 for the enjoyment of this inestimable blessing. Lord grant we may 
 prize this sweet fellowship above all things, yea above life itself; 
 for what is life without it? 2d. How is it enjoyed? By walking in 
 the light: God dwelleth in the light. We must walk where God is 
 to have fellowship with him. Christ is the light: God is ii> 
 Christ : by faith in Christ wc walk with God, and have fellowship 
 with him. Here the Father is well pleased with us, and we with 
 him: we communicate to him our wants: he communicates to us 
 every rich supply out of the fulness of Christ. Christ shines in the 
 light of truth: in every doctrine which flows from him a«d centers, 
 in him. Are we loved, elected, called, justified, sanctified, and 
 preserved unto salvation? It is in him: we are to walk in that faith 
 which workcth by the love of these truths, worketh love to them, 
 and to God for them ; and this faith and love is contrary to all the 
 darkness of sin and error. Christ the light shines in every com- 
 mand of his: faith receives them: in love wc obey and walk in them: 
 but though we walk in the light yet sin dwelleth in us. W'hat then? 
 This need not distress us; for 3d. As sure as we have fellowship 
 with God, " the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 
 Did it cleanse us yesterday? So it will to-day, to-morrow and to the 
 end of life. Who shall dare to set bounds to the cleansing virtue of 
 the blood of the Son of God? No sin too great, no sinner too vile 
 for this precious blood to cleanse. The chief of all sinners speaks 
 from experience ; let no one despair: for we sinners "have bold- 
 ness to enter into God's presence by the blood of Jesus. "....Heb. 
 X. 19. 
 
MARCH 31. 9* 
 
 Return ye backsliding children, and I will lie al your back- 
 slidings...Jer. iii. 22. 
 
 BACKSLiniNG is a species of apostacy from the faith ; apostacy 
 is the hi^Ii road to destruction: total apostacy will certainly end in 
 eternal damnation ; for there can neither be repentance or hope, for 
 such a soul. The Son of Ciod is the only sacrifice for sin ; this he 
 once professed to believe : but now he tramples on his precious 
 blood, wilfully despises and rejects our Saviour ; so that now he has 
 only " a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indigna- 
 tion, which shall devour every adversary of Christ. "....Hcb. x. 26. 
 Most stricking is the picture of such drawn by Mr. liunyan, in his 
 Pilgrim's Progress, as a man in an iron cage who thus confesses ; 
 '• I was once a fair and flourishing professor, both in mine own eyes 
 and the eyes of others ; I was as I thought, fair for the celestial 
 city, and had even joy at the thoughts that I should get thither ; 
 but I left off to watch and be sober; laid the reigns upon the neck of 
 my lusts; I sinned against the light of the word and the goodness 
 of my (k)d ; I grieved the Spirit and he is gone ; I tempted the 
 devil and he is come to me ; I provoked God to anger and he has 
 left me ; I have so hardened my heart that I cannot repent. O, 
 eternity ! eternity ! How shall I grapple with the misery I must 
 meet with in eternity !" Lord enable me to take Avarning by others, 
 and obey thy gracious words, which prevent thy childrens total 
 apostacy from thee. Observe, 1st. The conduct of the Lord to 
 such ; he arraigns them in the former verses. 1st. Of treacher- 
 ously departing from him, like a wife from her husband : O, what 
 perfidious faithless conduct ! For, 2d. It brings on perverting our 
 ■way before God, and 3d. This ends in forgetting the Lord our (iod ; 
 this is the cause of every evil. If the objects of time and sense 
 drive the memory of the Lord from our minds, though but an 
 hour, how foolish do we act ! Our hearts imperceptibly backslide 
 from the sense of his presence : but O, the love of our lord ! He re- 
 minds us, 1st. Though backsliden, yet he owns us as children. 
 O Father thy love ever lives, though folly is in our ways. 2d. He 
 calls in love, return : may love cause us to take shame, fall down 
 in sorrow and cry for mercy. For, 3d. He promises, " I v.ill heal 
 your backslidings :" I will freely and fully pardon them all, though 
 ever so numerous, heinous or aggravating, as though they had never 
 been committed. Backsliding sinner ! believe and rejoice ; sec the 
 effects of this love in the next meditation : O Lord, my God, lighten 
 mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death....Psalm xiii. 3. 
 
 I've nought to plead but thy free grace, Grant me to see thy smiling face, 
 Which docs in Christ abound : With mercy circled round. 
 
94 APRIL 1. 
 
 Behold ive come unio ihce.for thou art the Lord our God..., 
 Jtr. iii. 2'2. 
 
 Petkr was an awful backslider ; Ms crimes deserved hell ; so 
 do yours and mine : both he and we, should be sent there, if love 
 did not reign in heaven, and grace abound to sinners on earth : one 
 look of love from Christ broke Peter's heart, made him weep bit- 
 terly, and return to a crucified Saviour earnestly. A bone broken 
 and set, is stronger than it was before : this I am sure of, a heart 
 broke by forgiving love, grows stronger in love. Having much for- 
 given, we love much ; I have often thought fresh love added speed 
 to Peter's feet, when he run to the sepulchre to see his dear, his cru- 
 cified Lord.... John xx. 4. See the happy effects of loving speeches 
 and gracious words from a loving Lord. We saw the backsliding 
 children arraigned, and their conduct condemned in our last medita- 
 tion ? What was the sentence passed on them ? Was it, " go ye 
 cursed vile wretches, ye have gone from me in your ways, now I 
 will be glorified in your damnation!" No: break hard heart ; melt 
 () frozen soul ; bow stubborn knee, and be as sinews of a new 
 born babe ; for love everlasting ; immutable love lives ; sovereign 
 unmerited grace proclaims return ye backsliding children, 
 (children still! O matchless grace!) and I will heal tour back- 
 sLiDiNGs. What say gracious hearts to this? Do they reply! >' O 
 this is fine doctrine!" Come let us continue to goon, to enjoy the 
 world and sin, and delight oui'selves in our happy distance from 
 God. O no: this is the language of hell-born^ free-will pride; 
 if left to that so they would act ; but a spark of free grace within us, 
 catches fire from gracious words Avithout and therefore it is, hehold, 
 see the effects of the Lord's rich grace and precious love ; like fire 
 it melts down our hard hearts, makes us lament our base conduct : 
 affects us with the deepest sense of sin : inspires our souls with a 
 hope of rnercy and assurance of pardon, and therefore, " we come 
 unto thee." Here we see the actings of a holy faith in the heart . 
 it works by love : by the loving declarations of a gracious Father' 
 and dear redeemer : it works love in the heart, and it works by love 
 in returning to God ; and here is the joyful claim of faith ; " for, 
 O precious cause ! for thou art the Lord our God : was it not so? 
 thou couldst never have borne with our vile conduct : never had a 
 thought of mercy, nor a look of love towards us. O, let covenant 
 love and faithfulness ever bind our hearts to thee, that we may never 
 more depart from thee ; pervert our way before thee, or ever forget 
 thee, O Jehovah, I'atlier, Son and Spirit, our one God in Jesus. 
 
 When we the sacred truth bebeve, Our souls to him return and live, 
 Of God'i great love in Christ, And ihus, by ^nct, we're blest. 
 
APRIL 2. 95 
 
 Ungodly men tvho turn the grace of God Into lascivwusness. 
 ...Jude 4. 
 
 From what the bee extracts honey, venemous insects will poison. 
 The word of God, which is food to gracious hearts, is the sport and 
 contempt of profane wits. An ungodly heart will convert the most 
 wholesome truths of God's grace, into the most poisonous effects : 
 there ever were such men : there are such at this day, who hold forth 
 some of the most precious truths concerning the Lord Jesus, and the 
 grace of God abounding to sinners in him, and yet with these main- 
 tain the most damnable heresies. They are the fools \v\\o make a 
 
 mock at sin." Prov. xiv. 9. Personal holiness, they hold in the 
 
 greatest derision : they declare their sin as Sodoni ; say unto the 
 wicked it shall be well with him : tush, the Lord careth not about 
 our walk and life : if we have lusts better gratify them than burn with 
 them; and they swallow up every unscriptural error, in that damna- 
 ble heresy, all men shall be saved at the last : one scarcely knows 
 M'hich to wonder at most, why such persons should preach at all, or 
 why any who name the name of Christ can hear them: but scrip- 
 ture must I)e fulfilled; "There shall come in the last days scoffers 
 walking after their own lusts."... .2 Pet. iii. 3. I never knew but one 
 instance of a person who had joined himself to these vile Antinomi- 
 ans, that escaped from their soul destroying doctrines. My soul 
 rejoiced exceedingly, for a visit from this aged disciple of Jesus, 
 who through his precious grace is brought back into the ways of 
 truth and holiness. When the preacher asked him why he had left 
 him ? he honestly answ erd, " Were I to hear you now, I should be 
 almost ready to fill my pockets with stones and stone you ; for you 
 had well nigh sent me to hell, with a lie in my right hand." O 
 brethren, as you love the holy Jesus, as you value your precious 
 souls, as you prize communion with God, peace of conscience, and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost, beware of such ungodly men ; keep at the 
 greatest distance from them ; maintain tiie utmost abhorrence of their 
 hellish notions : why, O why did the blessed Spirit convince us of sin, 
 and lead us to Christ for salvation ; but that we should love God, 
 delight in God, enjoy feilowship with God, have no more to do with 
 the unfruitful works of darkness ; but walk before him in righteous- 
 ness and true holiness all the days of our life. Be assured, if your 
 faith does not influence you to this, it is not the faith of the holj 
 gospel, not a faith in a holy Jesus, it dots not work hy the love of 
 him, but is the faith of the ungodly, whose end is destruction.... 
 Phil. iii. ly. 
 
 Faith without love's an empty dream. Grant me, O Lord, renewing grace. 
 
 It conquers not the povvVof sia ; Qiiitken my soul from day to day, 
 
 To live, the soul has but a name, 'I'o walk in love before thy face ; 
 
 If Jesus reigncth not within. And raind-not what ih' ungodly say. M. 
 
t'6 APRIL 5. 
 
 l.ct God be true, but every man a liar. ...Bom. iii. 4. 
 
 I HAVE read of one who was diinib ; but on seeing; a vidlent 
 attempt to murder his father, cried out with great vehemence, my 
 father, when his heavenly Father's truth and faithfulness arc 
 attacked, Paul could not be mute ; fired with a holy emotion of 
 spirit, he cries out, "let (iod be true. A'ain arrogant man, will 
 you dare oppose your carnal reasonings, and fallacious arguments, 
 against the covenant purposes, faithful word, and precious promises 
 of the Lord ? Every such man, be he ever so noble, mighty, wise 
 and learned, is a liar : Paul's heart was too warm -vvith zeal for the 
 plory of his God, to pay any soft compliment to those who act under 
 the influence of the father of lies. The keen satire of Mr. Pope 
 is admirably adapted to such, 
 
 Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, 
 
 Rejiidge his justice, be the God of God! 
 
 In raas'ning pride (my friendj our error lies; 
 
 All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. 
 
 Christian, lay aside thy carnal reason ; take up thy Lord's word r 
 exercise thy faith upon it : thou art called to be valiant for the truths 
 of a faithful, covenant-making, and covenant-keeping God. Timid 
 silence is criminal, when your Father's truth is arraigned, and his 
 glory at stake. Know thou hast much within thee, and many 
 around thee, in combination to oppose the mystery of godliness ; 
 God manifest in the flesh, to bring salvation to miserable sinners, 
 and God's faithfulness engaged to make this effectual, by his sover- 
 eign grace, in spite of all the unfaithfulness of man : Mr. Carnal- 
 reason says, how can these things be ? Mr. high-thoughts exalts 
 himself against them ; Mr. free-will refuses to submit to them ; 
 Mr. unbelief pronounces them impossible to be true ; Mr. self- 
 love declares against subjection tr them; Mr. human-pride cries 
 away with them, totally reject them ; And Mr. self-righteousness 
 cries them down as leading to licentiousness. These are all profess- 
 ed judges of divinity, but in reality are lying adversaries against 
 your Lord's truth and faithfulness, and your peace, comfort and ho- 
 liness: abide by what is written: oppose God's truth, to all their 
 lying suggestions : be simple of heart. Let simple faith prevail. 
 Feed by faith upon God's truth, and you shall prosper, while others 
 cavil against it and grow lean. Hold fast, " the hope of eternal life 
 which God who cannot lie, promised (to Christ Jesus as our cove- 
 nant head, and that we should enjoy it in him) before the world 
 began."....Tit. i. 2. 
 
 Thy sacred truth shall live and reign, The truth of Jesus is my joy, 
 
 O God. within my heart, The source of all my peace : 
 
 In r.pite of boasting, lying man, In this 111 walk, though foes annoy, 
 
 . And all his trcach'rous art, 'Till thou my soul release. M- 
 
APRIL 4. 97 
 
 B\f faith Moses forsook Egi/pt, not fearing the wrath of 
 the king....Heb. xi. 27. 
 
 Here we see faith opposed by fear, and the victory of faith 
 •ver the dread of wrath. Consider his work and his danger, hiR 
 faith and his safety. 1 st. Moses was engaged in a great work ; 
 he was to go to Pharoah, and say from the Lord, " Israel is my son, 
 even my first born, let him go that he may serre me."....Exod. iv. 
 22, 23. Now might not the king very naturally look upon Moses 
 as a very dangerous, pestilent, hot-hc^ded enthusiast, who under 
 a pretence of religion wanted to raise a rebellion in his kingdom ; he 
 had no fear that the king might put him to death in his wrath ; " for 
 the wrath of a king, is as the roaring of a Iion."....Prov. xix. 12. 
 Most terribly fierce : but, 2d. Consider his faith; this set him 
 above fear. He bids defiance to wrath. Forsake Egypt he must ; 
 flee from the king he was determined ; for he had the command of 
 his God for it. Faith is the parent of all holy obedience ; but was 
 his faith nothing more than a strong impulse of his mind, some- 
 thing within him which suggested to him that he must forsake 
 Egypt? No: this he might have had, and obeyed it too to his 
 own destruction ; but he had the Lord's word, for the ground of his 
 faith: mind this. "Thus saith the Lord, I will send thee unto 
 Pharoah, that thou mayest bring my people out of Egypt:" there 
 is the word of his faith. 3d. 'Consider his safety. Pharoah could 
 not hurt the hair of his head: why not? Because the Lord added, 
 "certainly I will be with thee."....Exod. iii. 12. There is the 
 warrant for his safety : thus he believed God, and feared not the 
 wrath of the king. 
 
 See here the nature and actings of a true and lively faith. 1st. It 
 iiath the word of the Lord for its object. There may be strong im- 
 pressions of mind, warm suggestions of fancy, where there is not, 
 thus saith the Lord. Soul, these will not carry thee out of the 
 Egypt of nature, to the promised land; they will soon forsake thee: 
 then, thou wilt not only fear the wrath of a king, but the shaking 
 of a leaf. 2d. Faith in the Lord's word delivers the soul from fear 
 of the Lord's enemies; according to the strength of our faith, we 
 are set above fears of wrath; we canivjt have stronger cause for faith 
 than the Lord's word, nor a better object for our faith than the Son 
 of God. O then, when fear of wrath prevails, look unto Jesus 
 the author and finisher of our faith, with Lord increase my faith.... 
 Luke xvii. 5. 
 
 " Wh6re is your faith ?" our Saviour Thou author of our faith, increase 
 " Believe and honor me." [cries, The gift which thou hast giv'n, 
 
 Our foolish reas'ning heart replies, So shall we find thy precious peace, 
 Christ's joys are not for me. The antapas: of heav'n. M- 
 
 Vol. II. N 
 
08 yVPRlL 5. 
 
 Incline your car y and come unto me i hear and your soiil 
 shall live. ...ha. Iv. 3. 
 
 Some cannot bear exhortations to be used, either to saints or 
 sinners. O dear, they sound so legal in their ears, they arc quite 
 surfeiting to them; but why? Truly they arc got to be wise above 
 what is written ; but they proclaim their folly in condemning the con- 
 duct of Christ, and his Spirit in the prophets and apostles ; they 
 have most need of exhortations who see least cause for them: be 
 not high minded, but fear. A Chinese philosopher asserted, that 
 a man had three ears, one different from those two which are seen ; 
 this was counted a great absurdity; but it holds true in a spiritual 
 sense, for naturally we have ears, but hear not : the hearing ear 
 the Lord hath made."....Prov. xx. 12. This Christ calls for; " In- 
 cline your ear." Just as sentenced rebels and condemned malefac- 
 tors, be all ear to a sound of mercy and a proclamation of a re- 
 prieve from me. Though your hearts are bowed down under a sense 
 of your lusts and corruptions, your consciences burdened with guilt, 
 your minds pained with fears, and your spirits dejected with sorrows ; 
 yet listen not to the suggestions of satan, the intimations of carnal 
 reason, or the surmises of your legal spirits ; but turn away your 
 ear from all to me. O, it is precious living, thus to hear the voice 
 of Christ I but this call from Christ carries conviction with it, that 
 we do not enough incline our ear to him ; therefore we are not always 
 happy in him. Sweet invitation I "Come unto me." " Jesus Christ is 
 the same yesterday, to-day and forever. "....Heb. xiii. 8. His love 
 is the same ; his words arc the very same to poor sinners, whether 
 lie speaks by his prophets, or by himself in flesh: his loving heart 
 proclaims, "come unto me, all yc that labour and arc heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest. "....Matt. xi. 28. Come under all your load 
 •of guilt, weight of dejection, and burden of sorrow; Christ gives 
 lis to feel all this, that we may see our want of him, come to him, 
 and enjoy fellowship with him. Never misconstrue your so\il-burdens 
 and spiritual distress, as black marks upon you ; they are love-tokens 
 from him who says, "hear and your souls shall live;" not only live, 
 but be lively ; not barely live, but enjoy the vigor of life, the com- 
 forts of life, and bring forth abundantly the fruits of spiritual life. 
 All this is by hearing the voice of Christ, believing the love of 
 Christ, and living upon the fulness of Christ. " See then yc refuse 
 not him who speaketh from heaven.".. ..Heb. xii. 25. 
 
 Holy prince of peace ami love, Thou wonldst have us happy be. 
 
 Thou who callest from above, I" the faith and love of thee : 
 
 Give the power to obey Cause our souls to turn away, 
 
 Thy sweet voice, and coine to thee. From all sin and vanity. M. 
 
APRIL 6. 99 
 
 Thy God reign€th....Isa. lii. 7. 
 
 Christ commissions his minrsters to proclaim this joyful truth 
 to Zion, his church, that every member of his might receive it in 
 faith, change the pronoun and say, my God rcignetli : Christ's reign 
 is his people's glory, their triumph on earth, and the shouts of dis- 
 embodied saints in glory : hark to their acclamations of joy ; "alle- 
 luia, for the Lord God omnipotent rcigncth, let us be glad and 
 rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is 
 come.".«.Rev. xix. 6, 7. Are we married to the Lamb? Has he got 
 our hearts and affections ? Then we should constantly rejoice and 
 give honor to him, that he wlio is our God rcignetli. Where ? 
 Where he dwells in heaven for us, and in our hearts over us ; for 
 as he dwells in our hearts by faith, he spiritually reigns over all 
 within us. O, what matter of joy and consolation is this ! For, 1 st. 
 If our King has set up his throne in our hearts, wliat enemy can 
 hurt us? They must conquer the Lord God omnipotent before they 
 can subdue us. If Christ reign for us, and in us, we are sure of 
 reigning eternally in glory with him. 2d. Consider his rich grace in 
 thus reigning: we were once under the reign of a dreadful tyrant. 
 "Sin reigned in and over us unto death.".. ..Rom. v. 21. Though 
 we have sin in our nature, though it warreUi in our members, yet 
 it cannot reign and gel the victory over us. It is under the feet of 
 Christ: it is his vanquished enemy : he reigns over it: we are under 
 the reign of his grace: "grace reigns thro»igh righteousness unto«.. 
 what ? present peace, comfort and joy ? Yes, and infinitely more, 
 even unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Is sin our grief 
 and burden? That is a proof that Christ reigns in our hearts. Da 
 we long for perfect freedom from all sin ? That is a sign that we are 
 partakers of his holiness. Are we afraid sin will destroy us in death ? 
 It cannot : Jesus reigns to give us victory unto eternal life. 3d. Be- 
 hold Jesus our King reigns in rightcousness."....lsa. xxxii. 1. "Hi* 
 people shall be all righteous.". ...Laa. Ix. 21. Christ's righteousness 
 is upon us to justify us : his Spirit within us, to make us love 
 righteousness and hate iniquity : if we do not, we only talk of 
 Christ's reign, but never felt its power* " For he must reign till he 
 has put every enemy under his feet."....l Cor. xv. 25. Therefore, 
 4th. Rejoice, for all your troubles, temptations, conflicts and dis- 
 tresses, £cc. are under Christ's reign. No one can hurt you : and 
 the last enemy death shall bring you to reign >rith him eternally ia 
 life."... Jlom. V. 17. 
 
 The Lord on high doth ever reign, Then why my soul, my friends, those 
 For his dear people's good, Which dally us annoy ? [fears, 
 
 They soon shall see iheir foes all slain, I-ook up to Christ, wipe off jour tears, 
 And shout the Lr.nib of God. Rejoice with holy joy. M- 
 
too APRIL 7.. 
 
 But Jestfs stooped dowfi, and ivith his , finger tvrote on (he 
 ground, as thougli lie heard lhemnot....John viii. 6. 
 
 Every, the most minute transaction of the life of Christ should 
 be precious to the faith of our hecirts; for in all that he did in life, 
 and by all that he suffered in death, he manifested himself to be the 
 Saviour of lost sinners. The love of his heart knows no bounds to 
 such : he willingly came to sock and to save them : it is his joy to 
 find, and his priory to save the lost. O, v. as it not so, the hand that 
 writes must tremble to hold the pen, must drop it with terror, while 
 his heart must be filled with distress, and his soul sink into black 
 despair. But O, this faithful saying, " that Christ Jesus came into 
 the Avorld to save sinners," braces every nerve with joy, and fills 
 the whole man with triumph. See a vile prostitute brought before 
 our Lord, and her crime charged upon her; she was taken in the 
 act ; here are witnesses ^o prove it ; her sin admits not of a doubt ; 
 yet Christ pays no attention to them ; he pours the utmost contempt 
 upon them ; from the holy Jesus should we not expect to hear, 
 "Take the vile wiiore from before me and knock out her brains, her 
 abominable sin deserves it ?" Are not our self-righteous hearts ready 
 to rise at his conduct ! " With his finger he wrote on the ground ; 
 fine amusement for a judge! No that was not his office; he came 
 not to try, judge, and condemn, but to save sinners : but does he 
 not connive at her sin ? by no means : he has an utter abhorrence of 
 all sin, at the same time that he has infinite love to sinners ; his 
 love works by conviction of sin upon the heart, and then easing the 
 sin-burdened conscience ; he had many self-righteous hearts before 
 him ; while they accused this woman, he aimed to convict them. It 
 is said an ancient Greek copy declares, " Christ wrote on the ground 
 the sins of every one of them ;" be that as it may, they were con- 
 victed in their own consciences ; they had not a stone to cast at the 
 poor sinner ; they left her alone with Christ : what says he to her ? 
 '' I do not condemn thee, go and sin no more." He speaks as the 
 sinner-justifying, sin-hating Saviour ; now imagine yourself that 
 guilty sinner, such you are ; standing before Christ, that you do : 
 accused by the law, and condemned by your owi» conscience, that 
 you nmst own ; and yet Jesus saying, guilty, hell deserving as you 
 arc ; yet I do not condemn thee, I fully justify and freely absolve 
 thee from all sin : O what peace, comfort, and joy would inspire 
 your soul ! Well this is true : faith receives it, and takes up the 
 triumphant challenge, who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's 
 elect... .Rom. viii. 33. 
 
 Can Jesus e'er be pleas'd with sin ? O, let us ne'er licentious be, 
 
 No ; sin he hates, sinners he'll love ; Because we see free grace abound, 
 
 Then let us pray his grace to win, But let us to the Saviour flee, 
 
 And o'er all sin to live above. From sins which daily us surround. 
 
 M. 
 
APRIL 8. 101 
 
 IVoe iinlo (hem i,.hkh juslify the wicked for a reicard, and 
 take aiiuiy the ri'ghteouincss of (he righteous fi'um him.... 
 Is a. V. 23. 
 Person's are said in scrlptui"e to do a thing; •when they aim to 
 do it, and was it in their power, v/ould ; so apostates are said " to 
 crucify the Son of God afrtsh."....IIeb. vi.6. But that is impossible ; 
 yet by denying Christ tabetlic Son of God, they justify the act, and 
 was it in their power would do it again : so here, a woe is denounced 
 ajjainst persons for teachini^ cursed, corrupt doctrine. 1st. They 
 justify the wicked for a reward ; this is the common and prevaiHng 
 doctrine of our day: the wicked is the character of e\ery. natural 
 man : let the lives of such be ever so wicked, yet instead of being 
 told the necessity of being born again of the Spirit and justified by 
 the Son of God, they are t;iught to believe they can bril)e God's 
 justice, obtain his favor and justify their souls in his sight by their 
 duties and good works. If the Lord had not interposed by his spe- 
 cial grace, such would have sent my wicked soul to hell with a lie 
 in my right-hand. Glory to tliee, O Spirit, for teaching me the 
 justification and salvation of precious Jesus : his blood is my plea 
 lor pardon : his rigiiteousness my glory for justification unto life. 
 Then, 2d. We are beset on the other side with those who would 
 lake away our righteousness fiom us. What is the righteousness of 
 the righteous ? His own works and obedience ? Do these, constitute 
 us righteous in the sight of God : No : why not ? Because they 
 fall short of the rule of righteousness, the law of God ; as they do 
 not fulfil the righteous law, we cannot be made righteous therebyi 
 ^Vas our justification put upon this, the holiest saint must be 
 damned for want of righteousness : hear this and tremble, ye self- 
 righteous ; hear this and be humble, ye sin-convinced souls. " Yet 
 rejoice in Jesus, for he is the Lord olr righteousness. "....Jer. 
 xxiii. 6. "He is of God made unto us righteousness."....! Cor. 
 i. 30. " We are made the righteousness of God in him. "....2 Cor. 
 V. 21. This ONE everlasting righteousness we receive by faith, and 
 glory in alone : but there be those who would rob us of it, and 
 spoil our glory in it ; they tell us this faith leads to licentiousness : 
 wc reply, there is a woe against you from the Lord : you are linked 
 with those, " who call evil good, and good evil. Sec. who are wise 
 in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight : yea with drunk- 
 ards also."....Isa. v. 20, 21, 22. See what sad company you are in : 
 your heads are intoxicated with pride, and your hearts blinded to 
 the truth by your own fancied righteousness : you decry this truth 
 which you have not experienced, '* In the Lord shall all the seed 
 of Israel be justified and shall glory."....Isa. xlv. 25. 
 
&2 APRIT. :r. 
 
 There is iw fear in Love: but perfect love caste th out 
 fear i because fear hath torment ; he that feareth is not 
 viade perfect in love.. .A JohnW. 18. 
 
 The wild fire of^nature's passions arc often mistaken for hea- 
 venlv love ; they have hurried people into dreadful delusions : some 
 have pretended to be so perfect in love as to have nothing but 
 pure love in them, aud that the beinc;- of sin was entirely taken out 
 of them : but they have soon given awful evidence that they " deceiv- 
 ed themselves, and that the truth was not in them."....l John i. 8. 
 Be M'ise by others harms ; study the word of God ; abide by that ; 
 live upon the pkrfect love of God ; glory in that alone : for you 
 are, and ever will be, while in the body, the subject of sin, there- 
 fore subject to that fear which hath torment ; to fear God as an 
 enemy, armed with almighty vengeance and vindictive Avrath 
 against you a sinner. How is this tormenting fear to be cast out? 
 Bv love : the perfect love of God in Christ to sinners : this, 
 clearly known, cordially received, and steadily believed in the heart, 
 ejects ail fear that hath torment : " there is no fear in love." When 
 ve are fully persuaded of God's love, in giving his Son to die for our 
 sins and to save us from wrath: this precious, everlasting, immutable^ 
 perfect love of God the Father, and God the Son, shed abroad in our 
 hearts by God the Holy Ghost, fills our minds with peace and joy : 
 it sufi'ers no tormenting fears of hell and damnation to remain : our 
 hearts are full of heaven : the love of heaven is in our souls : for 
 *' God is love, and God dwclleth in us." Thou poor sinner, dejected 
 with fears, bemoaning thy sins, and mourning thy want of love to 
 God, dost thou confess that Jesus is tl;e Son of God I Know then, 
 to ihy present peace and everlasting comfort, "^God dwelleth in Lliee 
 and thou in him." Do you ask, but why then am I so often tormented 
 with ftar? The apostle answers, you are not made perfect in, rather 
 nv love : instead of firmly believing, and steadily living upon the 
 perfect love of God in Christ, you lose sight of it, are slow of heart 
 to believe it, and let it slip out of your minds : hence fears prevail 
 again in your conscience ; here we mistake ; we look fov perfect love 
 in ourselves to Ciod, instead of the perfect love of God to us: if 
 we find not a constant, pure flame of love ever burning in our hearts,. 
 Aviihout any smoke of contrary ail'cctions, tormenting fears beset us: 
 this is for want of being established in God's love to us. 'Tis by 
 this we are made perfect in our conscience, that God is at perfect 
 peace with us in Christ ; hence we arc happy : " we love God, be- 
 cause he first loied us."....l John iv. 10. 
 
 O God of love now shed abroad, That I may run the heav'idy road^ 
 
 Thy perfect love withia my breast, With j^^y to ihy eternal rest. 
 
APRIL 10. 1,05 
 
 Jt that day sailh the Lord, thou shalt call mc Isht\ and 
 shalt callmc no more Baali....IIos. ii. IG. 
 
 Maxy people say, "the scripture is a dead letter:" who told 
 them so? Not God in his word. True, Paul says, "the letter kil- 
 leth."....2 Cor. iii. 6. This cannot prove the scripture to be a dead 
 letter: but only that the letter of the law is a ministration of death; 
 therefore, even the law cannot be a dead letter: for that which kil- 
 leth cannot be dead itself: St. Stephen calls it "the lively oracles.".... 
 Acts vii. "8. Our Lord says, "the words that I speak unto you» 
 they are spirit and they are life. ".... John vi. 63. If we are dead to the 
 law and married to Christ, here is a precious v'ord of spirit and life 
 from our loving bridegroom to us this night: mavricd by faith: this 
 is what constitutes " that day," that gospel dny of our espousals. 
 Whatever may be in the womb of Cod's coven;!nt purpose and de- 
 cree concerning any sinner, yet he can enjoy no comfort of it, till 
 brought into actual marriage union to Christ by fuith: "saith the 
 Lord;" when you read this, consider yourself in your Lord's pre- 
 sence, and your Ix>rd speaking freely to yon: " thou shalt call me 
 Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali:" why not? as both names 
 signify my husband : " thy maker is thine husband."... .Isa. liv. 5. O, 
 but there is much more Jove and sweetness in the one than the other: 
 here is an overflow of the Lord's affectionate heart to us: Ishi is ex- 
 pressive of precious affection and holy familiarity: Baali, of that 
 lordly power, which keeps the soul in subjection; doniineering over 
 it, so as to keep it at a distance and making it shy of its Lord: many 
 women can truly call thier husbands Baali, because they lord it 
 over them: their fear and dread of them is greater than their love 
 and affection to them : but our dear Lord would not have it so with 
 «is; therefore bids us, "Call me Ishi." Mr. Henry says, "Ishi, is 
 viR MEus, my man: a man, the Lord." O, the affectionate 
 love! O, the marvellous humility of our Lord and husband 1 May 
 he help us to improve these precious words, 1st. In castings 
 away all serviie fear and slavish dread of our Lord: he has taken 
 away the law that cursed us; put away sin which caused it; and 
 there is nothing but love and compassion in his heart to ua. O let 
 MS, 2d. Prove this in coming to him with the same freedom and fami- 
 liarity, AB a loving wife to her affectionate husband and tell him of our 
 sorrows and Mants, that he may comfort us and supply them. od. Let 
 »is imitate Christ in the purity of his love and chastity of affection ; 
 turn from all other lovers; delight more in his company and walk 
 closer with him in love : "for the love of Christ passeth knowledge." 
 .i..Eph. iii. 19. 
 
104 APRIL 11. 
 
 Ye are fallal from grace. ...Gal. v. 4. 
 
 Awful words! Enough to excite in us a holy fear, a godly 
 jealousy, and an earnest cry, Lord, uphold me by thy free Spirit. 
 What is herenie.int by grace? The doctrine of God's free favor to 
 lost sinners in Christ: redeeming their souls from the curse of the 
 law by his blood; justiiying their persons before God by his righte- 
 ousness without any works of their own ; and finally saving them 
 without any desert of theirs. O my Lord, what rich, what match- 
 less grace is this! My soul shall love and praise thee eternally In 
 heaven for this: no, but stop, thy joy is damped: thou mayest fall 
 from this grace; lose the favor of God; fall into hell : who says 
 this? Some say Paul here docs; no, it is as impossible for a saint in 
 Christ Jesus thus to fall, as for a glorified saint in heaven to fall into 
 liell. Christ is God; it is impossible for God to lie, for Christ 
 says, "niy sheep shall never perish. "....John x. 28. If they did, 
 God the Father niust change in his love; God the Son shed his blood 
 in the greatest agony in vain : God tlife Spirit's work upon their 
 hearts would be fruitless ; and hell would triumph against the love, 
 grace aixl power of Jehovah. Bless the Lord, O my soul, for per- 
 severing as well as converting grace : what then does the apostle here 
 mean? 1st. And principally, these Galatian professors of the great 
 and glorious doctrines of the grace of God had fallen into other no- 
 tions of justification, than by the righteousness of Christ only : 
 they thought their own Avorks must have some hand in procuring it 
 first or last: therefore, 2d. They were fallen from the profession 
 they once made, that they saw themselves lost and perishing sinners, 
 come short of the glory of God, destitute of a righteousness to jus- 
 tify them in his sight, and must be eternally damned without the 
 righteousness of Christ. For, 3d. They were now fallen into a 
 high opinion of their own free-will, to work out a righteousness to 
 jtistify them in whole or in part ; faithfulness to grace received to 
 entitle them to God's favor; their own sinless perfection to keep 
 thenii in his favor; if at first they are not justified by their own works 
 yet there is a second justification, when their works shall entitle them 
 to glory : this is the case with some in our day. At first they thought 
 God's -free-grace through the blood and righteousness of Christ, 
 would entirely save them: but now grown wise in their own eyes, 
 and mighty strong in their own power, they are fallen from the grace 
 of the gospel into the pride of nature : they say, "we once leaned too 
 much to Calvinism." Now, forsaking the truth, they get perfection 
 in themselves: now they can do without the imputed righteousness 
 of Christ, and vehemently exclaim against the doctrines of grace; 
 fiom such falling, good Lord deliver us! 
 
APRIL 12. 105 
 
 By the obedience ef onCy shall many be made righteous.... 
 Rom. V. 19. 
 
 Paul speaks of "another Jesus, another Spirit, and another 
 GospEL."....2 Cor. xi. 4. Some talk of a Jesus, who shed his blood 
 for sinners, and yet lets them perish for want of righteousness: this 
 is another Jesus than what the scriptures reveal ; they speak of 
 a Spirit who strives to make sinners righteous, but meeting with so 
 much unexpected, perverse wickedness in their nature, he gives over 
 his attempt and leaves them to perish in their sins: this is another 
 spirit than that Spirit, whose office it is to convince us of sin and of 
 the righteousness of Christ, to sanctify us in him and to glorify Jesus. 
 Again, they preach what they call gospel, which consists of certain 
 terms to be fulfilled a«d conditions performed by them, in order to 
 get righteousness and eternal life: this is another gospel than that 
 good news of everlasting righteousness, life and salvation, being the 
 free gift of God through Christ to hopeless, helpless, desperate 
 sinners. The subtlety of the serpent is in all this ; our minds though 
 espoused to Jesus, are in danger of being corrupted from the sim- 
 plicity that is in Clirist. Paul was jealous over souls with a godly 
 jealousy on account of this ; we ought so to be over our own souls : 
 here is a plain simple truth ; by the one obedience of Jesus, shall 
 many be made righteous : that heart is not simple which raises the 
 least cavil, or objection, to the obedience of Christ imputed to be- 
 lieving sinners: or says, they are or may be tnade righteous any other 
 way. Such reject the truth, deny the faith, corrupt minds, dishonor 
 our Lord, and deprive souls of the comfort and joy which spring from 
 believing Jesus to be, the Lord our righteousness : avoid such, 
 as you would those who deny the divinity of our ever dear Lord ; 
 hold fast and rejoice in this blessed truth, that though you are a 
 miserable sinner in yourself, though your obedience, after all your 
 sincere strivings and earnest endeavours, is maimed and imperfect, 
 yet the perfect, spotless obedience of the Son of God is yours, imput- 
 ed to your account: as much yours as though you had in your own 
 person obeyed every jot and tittle of the law of God : by this one 
 obedience of Christ you are perfectly righteous in God'S sight; he 
 looks on you, loves you, and will treat you as such: O then, poor 
 sinner be not dejected as without hope, but rejoice and give glory to 
 your dear surety, who has fulfilled all righteousness for you, that 
 you should eternally love, "serve and rejoice in him, though you have 
 no confidence in the flesh."....Phil. iii. 3. 
 
 God's truths demand obedient faith, Then to thyself for sin take shame, 
 We're bound to hear whate'er he saith ; A nd all the glory give the Lamb. M. 
 Vol. IL O 
 
106 APRII 3. 
 
 lie thai trusieih Inhis oxen heart is afool....Prov. xxviii. 26. 
 
 We all do so naturally: therefore we are all natural fools; but 
 throug^li our blindness we are ignorant of it: through pride we will 
 not own it: how many continue in this awful state of folly, ignorance 
 and pride? Among the many who are made wise unto salvation, 
 how doth this folly of self-confidence cleave to them? Say some, 
 *'to be sure, it is the greatest folly for natural men to trust in their 
 own hearts, for they are deceitful above all things and desperately 
 wicked : but God hath given me a new heart, a clean heart, and a 
 good heart, and surely I may trust in it." This is the natural lan- 
 guage of folly: not the judgment of anew creature in Christ; hear 
 the Lord : " 1 will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord 
 and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall 
 return unto me with their whole heart.".. ..Jer. xxiv. 7. So that the 
 new heart, the clean heart, and the good heart, which is from the 
 Lord, knows the Lord as its only conrulence and returns to the 
 Lord, and trusts in him wholly and solely : this is the nature of true 
 faith, to go entirely out of ourselves and to trust wholly in the Lord. 
 It is the foolish, deceitful, wicked workings of the old evil heart of 
 unbelief that causes self-confidence : such was Peters vain confidence. 
 Hence he got a dreadful fall to teach him more humility. Hwzael 
 was very self-righteous: he started and stared when he was told 
 what a wicked thing he should do ; all the disciples forsook Christy 
 for all their bold declarations to the contrary : would not that mariner 
 be a fool, who vvould trust his ship to ride out a storm with an anchor 
 of lead and a cable of straw ? He exalteth such folly Avho trusts in 
 any inherent righteousness, wisdom, and power of his own : for 
 he thereby withdraws his confidence in our only righteous, wise, 
 and powerful friend and Saviour ; trust not in the fine frames and 
 warm feelings of your heart. The graces of the Spirit are not bestow- 
 ed to exalt self-confidence, but to glorify Jesus, in whom should be our 
 whole and sole trust ; for "of God he is made unto us wisdom, 
 righteousness, sanctification, and redemption:" to what end? A 
 most blessed one. O, study it more and more, day by day, '' that, 
 according as it is written, him that gloricth, let him glory in the 
 Lord.''..«» Lor. i. 31. 
 
 How foolish a part, 
 
 To trust in one's heart, 
 And let go the Lamb, and from him depart ? 
 
 Lord, beat down our pride, 
 
 O keep rear thy side, 
 And i;eep us chaste to thee, as thy loving bride- 
 , \V hile in thte we irnst, 
 
 And of thee do boast, 
 Fill tjs with joy in thee, thioujh the Holy Ghost. 
 
APRIL 14. - lor 
 
 For thy names sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquifVy for it 
 is great. ...Psalm xxv. 1 1. 
 
 Strange plea! Great is mine iniquity, therefore pardon it ! 
 Such an address at a throne of grace never rose from a self-righte- 
 ous heart! No: with the the pharisee of old they are ready to say, 
 "thank God, I am not such a sinner as David vas: I never com- 
 mitted the horrid crimes of murder and adultery : his iniquity was 
 great indeed;" it was so. But souls enlii!;htened by the Spirit of 
 truth, to see the spirituality of the holy law of God, will agree to 
 our Saviour's gloss upon it; that lust is adultery in the heart, and 
 anger a species of murder in the soul.... Malt. v. 28. " Out of the 
 heart proceed murders, adulteries." kc....Matt. xv. 19. Sensible 
 of the desperate wickedness of our heart ; eonvinced of the ex- 
 ceeding sinfulness of sin; who will dare plead, pardon mine iniquity 
 for it is i.iTTLK? Is it against a little God sin is committed ? Is a 
 little wrath revealed against sin ? Did a little Christ die for us ? Is a 
 little hell the punishment of sin ? Lord forbid that we should think 
 little of sin, or that iniquity should appear little in our eyes ; the 
 iniquity of each of us all is great. 
 
 O, says ' a poor sin-burdened soul, mine iniquity is great, too 
 great to be forgiven ; so the father of lies might suggest to David, 
 but he believed him not : great as his iniquity was, he did not aggra- 
 vate his crimes, by rejecting God's declarations of mercy, invitations 
 of grace, and promises of pardon ; he confesses his grtat iniquity ; 
 he pleads pardon for it ; on what does he found his plea ? For thy 
 name's sake, O Lord ; thou hast taken upon tliee that precious 
 name Jesus : " thou wilt be sai.vatiox to the ends of the earth.".... 
 Psalm xcviii. 3. Thy blood cleanseth fiom all sin ; wash mc in it 
 and I shall be whiter than snow; ai.i. manner of sin and blasphemy 
 shall be forgiven unto men : O, while these glorious truths stand 
 upon record, I cannot doubt, I dare not despair ; the belief of them 
 causes me to pray and plead, and hoj)e : great as mine iniquity is, 
 great as my distress is, yet ihou art a great God and Saviovr, 
 to pardon my sin and give peace to my soul ; was ever any sinner 
 sent to hell with such a plea in his mouth I No: that is impossible ; 
 for the word of God cannot be bioken, which says, *' if we confess 
 our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.".... 1 John 
 i. 9. Therefore heaven rings with acclamations of joy from such 
 pardoned, glorified sinners. O, that we may join them, in giving 
 glory unto him, who loved us and washed us from our sins, in his 
 own blood.. ..Rev. i. 5. 
 
 No sin however great, ' Pardon, O Lord, my soul, 
 
 Shall keep me from my God: Bring comfort to my mind, 
 
 For Christ's salvation is complete j O make my wounded spirit whole, 
 
 I'll plead his cleansing blood. Joy in thee let me find. 
 
 M. 
 
108 APRIL 15. 
 
 Be thou faithful unto deatliy and I ivill give thee a croicn 
 of life.... Rev. ii. 10. 
 
 This text has been seized by Arminian hands, dragged to their 
 mint, the impress of man's faithfulness struck on their minds, as }iis 
 title to a crown of life ; and pressed into their service to militate 
 against the electing love of God, and finished salvation bj- Christ 
 ONLY ; O christian, does not your heart rise with indignation against 
 such a self-exalting notion I It is the very dregs of unfaithfulness 
 to Christ ; are you not ready to spurn it with a holy vehemence, 
 saying, get to hell, from whence you sprung? What! my faithfulness 
 on earth, the cause, the condition, the merit of my being crowned 
 in heaven? O, my law-fulfilling, justice-satisfying, sin-atoning 
 Jesus; can I ever think so meanly of thy agony and bloody sweat; 
 thy cross and passion ; thy precious death and burial ; thy glorious 
 resurrection and ascension I And of the coming of the Holy Ghost? 
 as though all this obtained no more for me than to make way for my 
 faithfulness, to entitle me to a crown of glory ! O, Christ glorifying 
 Spirit, never didst thou teach such a diminutive thought of Christ's 
 finished salvation. Forbid that my soul should ever indulge such 
 a self-exalting notion ; enable me to attend my Lord's gTacious 
 •words. What means he by our being faithful ? To believe on him to 
 death, to exercise our faith constantly on him as our dear Saviour, 
 whose blood has atoned for our sins ; whose righteousness justifies 
 our persons, has perfectly reconciled us to God, and ever lives to 
 love, pray for, and save us to the uttermost ; steadily to believe his 
 word of truth which exalts his grace and love ; sincerely to obey his 
 precepts which adorn his gospel ; to live upon him as our only title 
 to glory, as our head of influence, and to receive out of his fulness 
 grace upon grace, to ripen us for glory ; thus faithfully to confess 
 him to be our all in all and ourselves nothing at all in the work of 
 salvation ; to be faithful to his advice, " after ye have done all these 
 things, say we are"....what ? Perfect sinless creatures, who have 
 our own faithfulness to plead at death for a crown of glory ? O, no ! 
 This would be most arrogant unfaithfulness to such a precious 
 Saviour, even if we were called to the stake for his truth ; but even 
 martyrs, in the midst of the flames, must say, " we are unprofitable 
 servants. "....Luke xvii. 10. To be faithful unto death is to renounce 
 the filthy rags of our own righteousness, all our own faithfulness* 
 cleaving to Christ, saying, O that I may win Christ and be found 
 in him, who gave me grace to be faithful, and graciously promises 
 a crown of life of his free gift.... Rom. vi. 23. 
 
 Sin shall not bow my spirit down, His mercy lifts my spirit up 
 
 Nor chase me from my Lord; To hear, and trust his word. 
 
APRIL 16. lO'j 
 
 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen, let ihcm 
 deliver you in the time of your tribulation. .. Judges k. 14. 
 
 A SEVERE sarcasm from the Lord to apostate professors ; it 
 causes a hell upon earth to a renewed soul to hear and feel just up- 
 ■braidings from the Lord of heaven : this is one of his severest chas- 
 tisings to his children ; here is an awful charge and a severe reproof; 
 the Lord keep us clear of the one that we fall not under the other. 
 Consider, 1st. The charge ; it is idolatry: they had gods of their 
 own choosing ; for the Lord's sake and for our souls sake, let us not 
 think we are in no danger of falling into this sin : it is committed by 
 professors every day ; aged Paul wept over such ; though they pro- 
 fessed Christ, yet they were enemies to his cross ; " their belly was 
 their God ; their hearts were set upon earthly things. "....Phil. iii. 19. 
 Such are not content with Christ as their portion, to live in fellow- 
 ship with him, to walk in self-denied love and obedience before him, 
 and to derive all their comfort and happiness from him : the lusts of 
 the flesh they gratify ; earthly things have their hearts : thus they 
 give up the Lord, and give into idolatry against him. O, what a 
 most heinous crime is this ! How much practised ! How little 
 thought of, deplored and deprecated ! Christians, where are your 
 hearts? Who has your affections, God, the flesh, or the world? If 
 not God, depend on it, you will soon, very soon hear from him in 
 such a way as will be awfully distressing. Consider, 2d. The reproof: 
 a day of tribulation will come ; when sorrow and distress seize on 
 your minds, then God is a blessed refuge ; but O, then to think, 
 alas ! I have forsaken the Lord, have preferred other lovers to him ; 
 chosen other gods beside him, the world has had my heart and my 
 hope, I have lived to the flesh, 1 have minded earthly things, and 
 indulged covetous desires. Well, but I read, notwithstanding all 
 this, '' the children of Israel cried unto the Lord saying, we have 
 forsaken our God and served idols.".. ..Judges x. 10. Ah ! but 
 mind the Lord's cutting answer, " go and cry unto the gods which 
 ye have chosen, let them deliver you." A severer reproof is scarce 
 to be found in the bible ; O, lay it to heart : deeply consider its 
 import: do not, I pray you, cast away this with contempt as very 
 legal ; for, consider, the Lord though as your Father may everlast- 
 ingly love your persons in Christ, yet he hates your conduct, and 
 will make you smart for it in your conscience : true it is said, " the 
 Lord's soul was grieved fo rthe misery of his children."....Judgesx.l6; 
 But, O, consider the great misery they must feel to grieve the soul 
 of the Lord : what a compassionate Saviour is our Christ, " in all 
 our afflictions he is ati[Ucted."....Isa. Ixiii. 9. 
 
no APRIL ir. 
 
 Uliat soever ye do in word or deedy do all in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus. ...Col. iii. 17. 
 
 I HAvF, sometimes thought, hov is it possible that a believer in 
 Christ can ever wilfully and deliberately commit any one sin? It is 
 hardly to be conceived that such can live and walk under the power 
 of sin: I am sure all sin is as contrary to the nature of a new born 
 soul, as heaven to hell : yet nothing is more plain from the word 
 of God and the experience of his saints, than that sin dwells in 
 them; but they are solemnly forbid, to " let sin reign in them, that 
 they should obey it in the lusts thereof."....Rom. vi. 12. And if 
 our souls are not striving against sin, and pressing after holiness, I 
 know not where to find one text in the word of God, to encourage 
 us to believe and hope that we are the children of God: I dread not 
 the Satanic grin of licentious Antinomians; does their infectious 
 breath pronounce this legal? It only proclaims their unregenerate 
 tnniity against God's truth, his grace and his glory. 
 
 Ye believers in, and lovers of the Lord Jesus, here is a short, but 
 most blessed and comprehensive rule for your walk and conduct. 
 Pops salan tempt, the world allure, and the fiesh Just? Gratify them 
 if ye can, only see that you do it according to this apostolic rule: 
 yea, get drunk, game, go to plays, routs, take your full swing in 
 carnal pleasures and sensual delights, and mix with the kicked and 
 profane, only see that you do all this as here commanded in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus. Does your heart recoil? It must, if the 
 name of the Lord Jesus is music to your cars, and the joy of your 
 soul; you can no more take delight in these things, than in the 
 music of hell. O, the matchless charms of that precious name ! 
 Lord, never, never suffer them to wear off our hearts ; thy name 
 charms away the power of sin, the love of the world, and the plea- 
 sures of sense: it charms our souls into the presence of God, fel- 
 lowship with God, and into the joys of heaven; right welcome are 
 wc to God, fully reconciled to him, and perfectly accepted with him, 
 in the precious nime of the Lord Jesus. O my dear, dear Saviour, 
 it is in thy precious name my heart would now indite; () for the 
 pen of a ready writer to display the glories of thy precious name, 
 my King and my Lord ; may the readers of these meditations find 
 the odour of thy name in them, " as ointment poured forth, that 
 they may love thee.".. ..Song i. 3. To us sinners, "the nanjc of 
 Jesus is above every name.".. ..Phil. ii. y. 
 
 Thv words and deeds, thou matchless This wicked world with all its cliarms, 
 Proclaim thy love tome : [Lamb, Put underneath my feet : 
 
 O may Hive and tove thy name, Keep me encircled in thine arms, 
 
 And ever honor thee. Where all my comforu meet. M. 
 
APRIL 18. Ill 
 
 My meditation of him shall be siveet : I will be glad in the 
 Lord.... Psalm civ. 34. 
 
 Sv/FFT meditation of the I^orcl causes gladness in the Lord, in- 
 spires us with the love of the Lord, and inclines us to ascribe the 
 glory of all we enjoy to the Lord. It is said of Constantine the great, 
 that after (ind had honored him with many victories, as the effigies 
 of other emperors were set up in a triumphant manner with their vic- 
 tories engraven upon their loins, he desired that his might be set 
 in a posture of prayer, kneeling, that he might manifest to the world 
 that he attributed all his victories, more to his prayers than his 
 sword ; this was the result of sweet meditation. What great gain do 
 souls reap by spiritual meditation ? Strangers to this delightful exer- 
 cise know not others' gain nor their own loss ; a day spent without 
 some meditation of the sinner's Redeemer and Saviour, is a day lost; 
 for Jesus gets no glory from our hearts ; we get no comfort from his 
 love: Paul the aged, exhorts his son Timothy, mkditate on these 
 THINGS....! Tim. iv.l5. What things? The scriptures, which testify 
 of Christ and the peace and salvation which are brought unto poor sin- 
 ners by him : O, how sweet is this I Saints in all ages have one and 
 the same delightful object to meditate upon: the soul under the 
 sweet exercise of grace knows no end of it ; nor how to leave off 
 metlitating on him, who hath loved us poor sinners with an ever- 
 lasting love, and saved us with an everlasting salvation ; his person 
 is woNDKKKUL, God and man in one Christ; the love of Christ pas- 
 aeth knowledge; the offices of Christ as King, Priest, Prophet, 
 Mediator, Surety, Redeemer, Saviour, how glorious in their nature! 
 How interesting to us sinners! The blood of Christ, how precious! 
 His righteousness, how perfect! His death, how affecting! His re- 
 surrection, how joyfvd! The salvation of Christ, how comforting! 
 His intercession, how prevailing! His grace in the heart, how sin- 
 subduing, and soul-purifying ! His almighty power in keeping us 
 through faith unto eternal salvation, hovv animating ! and the per- 
 fect sight and full enjoyment of Jesus in glory, how transporting! 
 Contemplations on these blessed subjects will cause us to cry out with 
 Pavid, "my meditation of him shall be sweet, I will be glad in the 
 Lord." Now, do you complain for want of gladness in the Lord ? It 
 is because your heart is carried away after other things; you medi- 
 tate too much on them, and too little on your God, who saith, " I 
 ^ill not forget thee."....Isa. xlix. 15. 
 
 My soul is never well, but when Tho' in myself I'm nought but sin, 
 
 I on my bebt beloved dwell. Yet in my Lord I will be glad: [clexn ; 
 
 He's fairer th;in the sons of men; His blood doth cleanse and keep me 
 
 Hii love and grace unsearchable. And in his righteousness I'm clad. M- 
 
112 APRIL 19. 
 
 My soul mdlclh for heaviness : strengthen thou me ac 
 cording to thy word.... Psalm cxix. 28. 
 
 While the wicked are gay, alert and merry, many of God's 
 beloved children go bowed down from day to day, with heavi- 
 ness of soul ; when they compare themselves with the men of the 
 world under such seasons, they are tempted to write bitter things 
 against themselves, and to pass a verdict in favor of others. Soul, 
 in the heaviest season, and most dejected frame you ever experienced, 
 say, could you find it in your heart to wish to change lots with them ? 
 what ! quit yoin' faith in Jesus and hope of eternal enjoyment of him I 
 for what ? The momentary gratifications and short-lived pleasures of 
 time and sense. Alas! my soul is in such heaviness that I doubt 
 whether I have either a spark of faith, or a ray of hope in Christ. 
 My soul melteth ! it bears no image nor impression of any grace, or 
 of the power of any truth ; faith fails ; hope decays ; my heart 
 sinks ; I am burdened with a sense of sin ; oppressed with tempta- 
 tions ; and what is heaviest of all, the Lord hides his face and deserts 
 my soul : David felt all this; Peter experienced the same ; hence he 
 says, " for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through mani- 
 fold temptations."....! Pet. i. 6. 
 
 Mind those two words ; there is support and relief in them.... for 
 A SEASON. Blessed be Jesus, heaviness lasts not always ; he will 
 deliver out of it ; if need be ; there is cause for it; good shall 
 issue from it. What is the remedy when the soul is in heaviness ? 
 Prayer ;. pleading God's word of grace, and promises of love for 
 strength under burdens, and deliverance from soul-heaviness ; 
 *' strengthen thou me according to thy word ;" says wisdom, " heavi- 
 ness in the heart of man maketh it stoop ;" the poor soul sinks un- 
 dej its burden ; " but," says he, " a good word maketh it glad.".... 
 Prov. xii. 25. Where shall we find that good word ? In the gospel 
 of the grace of God ; here is a good word, enough to make thy 
 heavy heart leap for joy, and thy burdened soul sing for gladness. 
 C), meditate upon it ; pray over it ; and may the Lord the Spirit give 
 thee comfort from it ; it is the work and oflice of thy blessed Saviour ; 
 i!i his own time, way and manner, he will most surely fulfil it; "to 
 appoint unto them who mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty 
 for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise 
 for the spirit of heaviness, that the Lord may be glorified. "....Isa. 
 Ki. 3. 
 
 Ill all my luirden'd frames of heart. To tliec alone for strength I'll cry, 
 
 When sin and sorrow sink me down, For strength can come from none but 
 
 1 Mill will cry, my God thou art, O Jesu, thou art ever nigh, [thee, 
 
 Tli> faithful promises to own. And full of tende4- sympathy. M, 
 
APRIL 20. 113 
 
 / have all and abound: I am full. ...Phil. iv. 18. 
 
 Happy Paul! Infinitely richer than the most opulent monarch 
 under heaven. Ye poor, wretched, covetous worldlings, whose gold 
 is your God, and who are labouring to add heap to heap.. ..how long? 
 till ye drop into eternity, die like fools, and for ever lose the idols of 
 your hearts? behold here a man who has more than ever you pos- 
 sessed : he has all; you only obtain a part of what you aim at; you 
 are still in want of more. Rich, happy Paul, possesses all. 
 "And," says he, "I abound." Not in want and wish, but in full 
 enjoyment. "I am full." I can contain no more. He had "the 
 unsearchable riches of Christ for his portion:" his wealth consisted 
 in his mind being contented with that as his greatest treasure. 
 
 O, thou poor murmuring disciple of Christ, who art often fearing 
 and distrusting, lest thou shouldst want the bread that perisheth for 
 thyself and family ; and thou, my soul, who hast often been exer- 
 cised with this sore temptation, learn a lesson to-night from rich and 
 happy Paul. Of all the men in the world, would you expect to hear 
 St. Paul say, "I have all things and abound: I am full?" What! he 
 who hath been in necessities, destitute, in want, in nakedness, who 
 like his master had not where to lay his head, and was treated as 
 the filth and off-scouring of all things?.... Yet for him to say, " I have 
 all and abound: I am full." O, may the Lord contract our wants! 
 They arc most of them more imaginary than real. Lord enable us 
 to be content with such things as we have ! What are they? Come, 
 christian, count up your riches; look over the deeds of your in- 
 heritance; see what vast possessions you arc entitled to: verily, no 
 less than what Paul once had by faith and now enjoys in full pos- 
 session, even Jesus, the God of his salvation; Christ is all in all: 
 if he dwells in your heart by faith, he fillcth all ; you have all ; you 
 abound in all ; you are full of all. The flesh may lust for more ; 
 the spirit must be quite satisfied with him; for all things are yours; 
 and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.... 1 Cor. iii. 23. Learn 
 hence the use and blessedness of your faith ; it brings the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ into your heart. When flesh and sense require 
 to be gratified, here is the work of faith, " Put ye on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts- 
 thereof."....Rom. xiii. 14. 
 
 It 
 Jesu, thou art all my treasure : Come, come, my Lord, O sweetly come, 
 
 When fill'd with thee, 1 want no more: And take possession of my heart j 
 This is still my greatest pleasure, Then other lovers find no room -. 
 
 To glory in my heav'nly store. Thou, only thou, my portion art. M. 
 
 Vol. II. P • 
 
Hi APRIL 21. 
 
 He that is of God hearclh God's icords...John viii. 47. 
 
 "The words from Mount Sinai, gender to bondage. "....Gal. 
 iv. 24. Sonic of God's children are kept under bondage by them: 
 they are taught to look on themselves only as servants, not sons 
 of God, because they dare not say, they know their sins forgiven. 
 This is a foolish, unscriptural distinction. Paul expressly declares, 
 that every believer is a son of God : "Ye are all the children of 
 Ciod by faith in Christ Jesus."....Gal. iii. 26. Can a man be a 
 servant of God M'ithout faith? No; without faith it is impossible 
 to please God....Heb. xi. 6. Every one who hath faith in the Son 
 of (iod, is a child of God; his sins are as surely forgiven, as that 
 Christ died for sinners ; he shall never come into eternal condemna- 
 tion for tJiem, no more than if he had never committed them : " this 
 is God's ward. "....John V. 24. As many as receive Christ, that is, 
 believe on his name, have the privilege of becoming the sons of 
 God..«John i. 12. How came they by this faith ? "By hearing the 
 word of God."....Rom. x. 17. Without this what is called faith 
 is only fancy : the knowing one's sins to be forgiven, which 
 some make so great stir about, if not attained through the faith of 
 God'5 word, is only a vain, confident delusion; at best, with them 
 it affords but sorry comfort: for, they say, a forgiven sinner after 
 r11 may be damned for his sins. O, most dishonorable to the pre- 
 cious blood which atoned for them I Cease yc from such : hear God's 
 word: that speaks God's truth and displays his glory, while it pro- 
 claims his love in the full, free, certain, and absolute salvation of 
 sinners by Jesus Christ. He who heareth this as God's word, rc- 
 cciveth this as God's truth, and believeth this in his heart, is of 
 God ; born of God ; born to know, love, enjoy, and rejoice in God. 
 Here is a plain mark to know whether you belong to God or not : 
 try yourself by it to-night. Do you love God's word? Is it the de- 
 light of your heart and the glory of your soul ? Do you believe its 
 truth and love to walk after its precepts? Then, so sure as you are 
 a son of Adam, you are a son of God: you will assuredly enjoy 
 tlie comfort of this, 1st. by studying your Father's will. 2d. lu 
 walking in the belief of your Father's unchangeable love. And, od. 
 In living to your Father's glory: "as obedient children, not 
 fashioning yourselves according to the former hists in your igno- 
 rance: but a« he whiA hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all 
 maimer of conversation." O Father, speak this word with power 
 to otir souls, "be ye holy, for I am holy."....l Pet. i. 14, 15, 16. 
 
 The lienrinp ear, the knowing heart, Yea, let us know and practice too, 
 Come both from thfe, O Lord! Our Lord's most holy will, 
 
 O keep uu lint we ne'er depart And shew our faith, by what we do, 
 From hearing of thy word. That love reigns in us still. M. 
 
APRIL 22.- US 
 
 Is it true?. ...Dan. iii. 14. 
 
 A QUESTION this from a potent monarch backed with a wrathful 
 threatening: enough to have put Shaclrach, Meshach, and Abednego 
 to the stand ; their answer must provoke their God, or their king. 
 But did they hesitate a moment ? Were they at all in doubtful sus- 
 pence? No; they had faith in their Lord, and they boldly replied, 
 " O king, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." Our 
 cause lies before our God : we are not left to ourselves ; our present 
 life, our immortal soul is in his hands. If you command us into the 
 fiery furnace, om- God will be with us: wc shall be safe: he will 
 deliver us : either our bodies that we shall not be burnt ; or if they 
 are, the burning furnace shall be only as a fiery chariot lo convey 
 our souls to heaven and glory. See the power of faith : according 
 as they believed so it was: the Son of God was with them: the fire 
 could not hurt them. Hence consider, 1st. That God may, and 
 sometimes docs suffer his dctrest childr^to be brcnght into great 
 straits, and threatened with the greatest dangers, so that an answer 
 to a single question, may perplex them. Is it true? Are you one 
 ■who follow this new way ? Do you pretend to be justified by the Son 
 of God only, to be saved by the grace of God entirely, and to have 
 received the Spirit of Ciod freely ? On an answer to ihis, perhaps, 
 depends a parent's regard or a friend's kindness : the one threatens Xo 
 disinherit, the other to withdraw his favors. Do worldly interest, 
 honor or advantage depend upon the answer of the tongue and the 
 conduct of the life? Do poverty and want seem to threaten, if we 
 .declare ourselves for the Lord ? Here is the trial of faith. Btit, 2d. 
 Remember our Lord's declaration : "VvMiosoever shall be ashamed 
 of me and of my woi-ds, in this adu!te<|fiis and sinful generation ; of 
 him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the 
 glory of his Father."... .Mark viii. 38. Therefore, 3d. Put this 
 question to your heart. Is it tr«e that God is my Father in Christ 
 my Saviour? Doth the Spirit hear witness to this in the word and to 
 my heart? Shall I then so fear a worm of the earth as to deny the 
 truth and forsake that Lord m ho has promised he will never leave nor 
 forsake me, and that they that seek him shall not want any good 
 thing ?".... Psalm xxxiv. 10. My soul starts, nvy heart recoils at the 
 thought ; i-dllier say, I will not fear w hut man can do unto me. 
 Give up and foregaall for Christ: soon we sl^l see these dear chil- 
 dren : then they will tell us they never were so Tajipy ini||leir lives as 
 in the fiery furnace: God is most with his children when they suffer 
 most for him. 
 
 O give TPe courage, clearest Lord, To ttll -hy sacred truth abroad, 
 
 Against my greatest foes, Nor fe^r their tlireafning wots. 
 
116 APRIL 25. 
 
 God left him to try hnn, thai lie might knoxv all that ztas 
 in his heart. ...2Chron. xxxii. 31. 
 
 Hezekiah was^-great and good man of God: he had rich ex- 
 perience in divine grace: still he discovers, that he had a sinful 
 nature and a deceitful heart: though an eminent saint of God, yet 
 pride and vain-glory beset him. I have been, led to think there 
 seems a little of the spirit of the Pharisee in his "beseeching the Lord 
 to remerribcr how he had walked before him, in truth with a perfect 
 heart and done that which was good in his sight."....2 Kings xx. 3. 
 At least, some of a self-righteous spirit have been led to think from 
 hence that we have somewhat in ourselves whereof to glory. O, if 
 wc have walked well and done well, we need not remind our Lord 
 of it : if the heart is simple with its Saviour, it will not: for it was 
 by his grace we did so. He who gives us grace can never be un- 
 mindful of its effects. 
 
 We hear of Hezekiah's sickness, of the Lord's giving him a sign 
 of restoration, of his sudaen recovery, of his sweet experience, of 
 the Lord's dealing with him in his sickness. ...Isa. xxxviii. Should 
 we not next expect to hear of his perfect love, supreme affection to the 
 Lord, and of his deepest humility before him ? But alas ! we are told, 
 " he rendered not again according to the benefits done*unto him:" 
 Why ? Astonishing 1 For his heart was lifted up. O, Avhat 
 pride and vain-glory does he discover in shewing to the princes of 
 Babylon his vast treasure ! Is this the nian who so lately chattered 
 like a crane or a swallow, and mourned like a dove, whose eyes 
 failed and whose tongue cried out : O Lord, I am oppressed, under- 
 take for me ? This he, who said I shall go softly all my years in 
 Ihe bitterness of my soul? ^s, God left him. O, if God leaves, 
 satan tempts and corruptions rage. What evils may not the best 
 of men fall into? Saint, know yourself; consider this. Why did 
 God leave him? Why does he leave any of his dear children ! To try 
 them ; that they may have full proof of their weakness and vile- 
 ncss ; that they may know all that is in their hearts. We know 
 but little of the latent seeds of pride and wickedness in us : the 
 Lord withdraws for a season ; he suffers devilish pride to rear its 
 cursed head, that he may wound it by the power of his grace and 
 bring the poor sinner to his feet, with Hezekiah " to humble himself 
 for the pride of his heart."....2 Chron. xxxii. 26. Happy those in 
 whom such effects are produced ; for in them the grace of God, 
 yea the God. of grace is glorified. 
 
 My Lord, how wond'roas is thy love, Search me, O God, and try my heart, 
 So long with me to bear: Its vileness shew to me : 
 
 A wretch so proud, who oft hathlstrove, Cause all self-glorying to depart, 
 Glory with thee to share. That I may humble be. M. 
 
APRIL 24. 117 
 
 Joseph knew his brelJiren, Init they kneic not hi}n....Geii. 
 xlih 8. 
 
 How affecting is the history of Jose|fli I Who ran read it 
 V'ithout emotion of soul? What amazing scenes of providence open 
 to our view ? Spiritual minds may sec many things in it typical of our 
 beloved Saviour. Here Joseph's brethren are introduced lo him as 
 governor of Egypt ; he knew them; they knew not him. How docs 
 he deal with them ? Does he instantly make himself known to them ? 
 No: though he had the most tender affections of heart to them and 
 wept tears of joy at the sight of them, yet he speaks roughly and 
 to prison sends them. Why this? To bring their sin to their mind, 
 and to affect them for their cruelty towards him with a deep sense of 
 their guilt. See we not somewhat typical of the conduct of Christ 
 our brother in the flesh in all this? 1st. Christ knew us before we 
 knew him: he knew us from eternity, when Ave were chosen in him 
 and given to him. 2d. We never seek ||ter him, or come to him, 
 unless we find a famine in our hearts and are ready to perish for want 
 of the bread of life. 3d. When we do come to him, does he 
 instantly make himself known to us and assure us that he is our 
 Saviour? No; for a season he speaks with the authority of a Go- 
 VKKNOR, cjfuses his law to treat us roughly, threatening us with the 
 prison of hell. Why ? Deeply to affect our souls M'ith a sense of 
 o\\\- sins and deserts. 4th. It was some time, and many trying and 
 afllicting scenes Joseph's brethren passed through, before he said, I 
 AM YOUR BROTHER. Did Joseph do them any real harm by all this? 
 .So our Jesus, though he proves us and trys us and shews us what is 
 in us before he gives us full assurance of his love and salvation, intends 
 nothing but real good to us: by alibis he teaches us humility. 
 5th. Joseph's brethren did not at first come to him as their brother, 
 but as the governor of Egypt ; so we come as perishing sinners td 
 Christ; not as knowing that he is our brother, but believing him td 
 be a Saviour and praying him to save us : we have faith in him before 
 ■we have the assurance of his love to us, and know that we are his 
 brethren. Lastly, all the blessings and comforts of Joseph's brethren 
 flowed from his knowledge of them ; so does all our safety and com- 
 fort in time and eternity spring from Christ's first knowing and losing 
 ns as his brethren. Though true faith may be without special assu- 
 rance of interest in Christ, yet Christ assurea»us, " I will manifest 
 myself unto you. "....John xiv. 21. 
 
 'Tis all ray comfort kere below, This world with all its pompous show, 
 
 To know my Saviour's love : I leave for joys above. M. 
 
118 APRIL 25. 
 
 Aivake to righteousness and sin not... A Cor. xv. 54. 
 
 What Paul says of natural death, " some are fallen asleep.".... 
 1 Cor. XV. 6....rr»ay be applied in a spiritual sense to professors : 
 there arc many such in this day ; il is a very bad frame to live in and 
 indulge : such bring no honor to God, credit to the gospel, or profit 
 to their brethren. One would think, such sit all the year under that 
 v'ord and heartily obey it, " sleep on and take your rest." Can such 
 be said to l)e running the heavenly race, fighting the good fight of 
 faith, Avrestling with spiritual enemies, and pressing towards the mark 
 forthc prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus? No; no more 
 timn a man in a midnight sleep can be said to be active in wordly 
 affairs : but what is worst of all, such sleepers dream that all is safe 
 and well with them. 
 
 Paul, like a faithful watchman, cries out to such awake : " how 
 long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard ? When wilt thou arise out of thy 
 sleep ?" Wlmt do they answer ? " Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, 
 a little folding cf the hands to sleep.".. ..Prov. ri. 10. If you jog 
 them and strive to arouse them to the exercise of grace and the 
 discharge of duty, tliey will answer in a sleepy fit, " We know the 
 doctrines of grace, do not disturb us with your legal notions about 
 sin and righteousness." Good Lord keep our souls from such a 
 dreadful frnme : take heed, O christian, of such : beware you get 
 no harm of them, so as to catch the infection from them and lie 
 down to sleep by them. From whence do such sleepy frames pro- 
 ceed ? • 1st. Says wisdom, "slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep.".... 
 Prov. xix. 15. Slothfulness in the ways of the Lord will bring on 
 deep sleep of soul. 2d. Sitting under drowsy, lethargic preachers, 
 who aim more to fill the hfjpd ^vith notions of light than to warn> 
 tlie heart by the fire of love. 3d. Love of this world and eager pur- 
 suits after the riches, honors and pleasures of it are sleei)ing opiatesi 
 to the soul. O christian, consider the unintermitting zeal and activity 
 of thy Lord for thy salvation 1 Wrestle hard w ith him to quicken 
 and keep thy soul alive to righteousness, that thou niayest not sin to 
 dishonor him ; but live and walk, love and obey, so as to glorify him. 
 Lord let us never loose our feeling convictions of the exceeding 
 sinfulness of sin, and the dreadful effects of it upon our souls. O, 
 let conscience rather smart with pain than sleep in stupid security.. 
 
 My God, awake my clro#sy soul, The licavy chains of cavnal sloth, 
 
 ImportiiU truths to see : Lord, from my mind remove : 
 
 Viih fplritandlife mv i)o\v'iscoiitroul, Make me to feel thy heav'uly tnilh, 
 1"o walk ill "eve with thee. In all its pow'r and love. M. 
 
APRIL 26. 119 
 
 I will put a division belzceen my people ^ and thy people: 
 to-mart'ow shall this sign be....Exod. viii.23. 
 
 Thus speaks the soverei8;n Jehovah to the haughty, stubborn 
 monarch Pharaoh. Loving children delight to treasure up in their 
 memories the words of an aft'eclionate father ; they love to reflect 
 on them and draw comfort from them. O, that we may do so 
 to-nit-;ht by this speech of our heavenly Father 1 Consider, 1st. 
 Here is a people, distinguished from a people : the Lord has a peo- 
 ple among a people, chosen out of a people : these he peculiarly 
 calls his own, my people: they are so by everlasting love, eternal 
 choice, and covenant grace. 2d. Though near and dear as they 
 are to the Lord, yet they may for a season continue under the power 
 of, and suficr oppression from their enemies. Though the love of 
 the Lord s heart is ever set upon you and the eye of his providence 
 is ever over you, yet he may seem to leave you. O, tarry the Lord's 
 leisure and be strong ; though deliverance stay, yet wait for it ; 
 the Lord will surely appear. For, 3d. The Lord puts a division 
 between his people and others ; he separates them by his power, 
 calls them by his grace, and according to his rich mercy divides 
 ihem from the wicked ; or as it is in the margin, puts a reiu.wp- 
 TioN lietween them. O believer, there is not a plague which you 
 deserve and others suffer, but the redemption of Jesus stands be- 
 tween, has averted from you, and therefore can never fall upon you: 
 precious indeed beyond conception or expression is this redemption; 
 it shall be manifest so to be. For, 4th. There is a set time for it : 
 
 TO-MORROW SHALL THIS SIGV BE. Ah I SOUl, tO-duy thoU SCCSt 
 
 the wicked in great prosperity, not burdened with sin, harrasscd with 
 teniptation, and bowed down with sorrow as thou art. Do not 
 elivy but pity them ; remember thy Lord's words to-morrow, and his 
 yign : I'aul gives it you, ''in nothing be terrified by your adversa- 
 ries, Mhich is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of 
 salvation, and that of God. "....Phil. i. 28. O, study this precious 
 text : there is much sweetness in it. Have you adversaries for 
 Christ's sake ? It is now evident they are in a state of perdition, 
 but you of salvation : the Lord is at hand. O love, look and long 
 for his appearing : rejoice in his cross, which is the sign of your 
 salvation ; by that you shall overcome ; " God forbid that I should 
 glory, save in the cross of Christ. "....Gal. vi. 14. And see that 
 while you glory in the cross, strive to " adorn the doctrine of God 
 your Saviour in all things. "....Tit. ii. 10. 
 
 To-day the wicked great and strong, Cheer up my soul, be not dismay'd, 
 Hector the saints of God : Christ thy redemption is : 
 
 To morrow God will change their song, His sov'reign pow'r, his saving aid 
 111 hell their dark abod.-. Shall. snatch thy soul to bliss. M» 
 
i:o APRIL 2r. 
 
 That your love nuiy abound yet more and more in knoW' 
 ledge, and in all judgment.... Pliil. i. 9. 
 
 The soul that is not concerned that it may be so with him is 
 not alive to God. We see many professors who have lost a warm 
 sense and comfortable feeling of divine truths ; but are they deeply 
 concerned for it t Do they earnestly wrestle with God fervently, 
 crying out, O that it were with me as in months past ? Alas ! No : 
 they say we are not called to live upon our frames and feelings. 
 Very true ; neither, blessed be God, are we called to live without 
 warm frames and comfortable feelings. O, let us beware lest we 
 despise the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Some professors by their 
 spirit and conduct remind one of the fox in the fable, who lost his 
 tail in a trap and told his brethren he run so much the lighter without 
 it : so some having lost their warm and lively feelings, think little 
 about them, and seem to say they can run well without them. Truly 
 so they do ; but not in the ways'of the Lord, but in the way's of the 
 world, of sin and folly ; they awfully take up with other frames 
 and feelings, not of a spiritual, but of a carnal and sensual nature. 
 O christian, pity such ; bless the Lord if he has kept you from 
 thus falling, and that this text is the prayer of your soul. 1st. 
 " That your love may abound more and more." To whom ? To the 
 God of love ; to the Son of his love ; to the Spirit, the shedder 
 forth of his love ; and to all the children of his love ; yea, with a 
 love, of pity to all men. O, this is a most precious frame to live and 
 die in! But, 2d, How is love to abound? 1st. "In knowledge:" 
 the more we know and believe the everlasting love of God the 
 Father, the everlasting salvation of God the Son, and the everlast- 
 ing consolation of God the Spirit, real love is increased to Jehovah 
 and to our brethren in Christ. Do not set love Ijefore knowledge ; 
 do not think knowledge contrary to love, or that love abounds by 
 ignorance. 2,d. " In all judgment," or sense and feeling, as in the 
 margin of some bibles. Insensible love, unfclt love, is a strange 
 kind of passion. My dear brethren, you who like me have warm 
 passions, let us pruy God our love may as sensibly be felt as our 
 anger, and may daily abound over it : yea over all our sins ; over 
 the love of the world ; over every enemy to the leve of our Christ 
 und to the glory of our God : " be perfect, be of good comfort, be 
 of one mind, life in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be 
 with you.". ...2 Cor. xiii. 11. 
 
 'Tis sweet byfuitk to know Christ's Lord make me daily know and feel, 
 As taught us by his sacred word .[love, Religion's more than em])ty name : 
 Tis sweeter still, when from above, 'Tis love and joy unspeakable. 
 We feci its comforts shed abroad. To live by faith upon the Lamb. M 
 
APRIL 28. 121 
 
 Dew id said in his hearty I shall now perish one day by the 
 hand of Satd... .1 Safn. xxv'ii. 1. 
 
 Who will say, that from the nature and reason of things, David 
 had not cause to think so ? The king's wrath was incensed against 
 him ; " The wrath of a king is as messengers of death ; yea, as the 
 roaring of a lion."....Prov. xvi. 14. xix. 12. Saul wanted neither 
 policy nor power to execute his cruel designs upon David ; but only, 
 he must have permission from David's Lord before he could hurt a 
 single hair of his head. Poor David's heart seems to forget this, 
 when in a fit of fear and frame of unbelief, he says, " I shall now 
 one day perish by the hand of Saul." Now, only think, " the Lord 
 had appointed and anointed David to be king, and the Spirit of the 
 Lord came upon him from that day forward."....! Sam. xvi. 12, IS. 
 Yet, we here find him doubting the truth of what had passed, giving 
 way to unbelief, and suspecting that the Lord's purpose might be 
 prevented by Saul's malice in destroying him ; as though Saul's 
 arm was stronger to destroy than the Lord's to save, or Saul's 
 hatred against him greater than the Lord's love for him. What an 
 enemy is unbelief to God's glory and the comfort of his beloved 
 children ! The holiest of God's saints are not totally freed from its 
 malign influence. See it in David, see it in thyself, and be ashamed ; 
 for, art thou a David, a beloved of the Lord ? Art thou also anoiited 
 by the Spirit of the Lord to be a king unto God ?....Rev. i. 6. Yet 
 didst thou never say in thine heart, " I shall one day perish by the 
 hand of mine enemies ?" I shall never arrive at the kingdom of 
 God. Yea, art thou thinking or saying so now ? Then be ashamed 
 of thyself for thus dishonoring thy Lord's love, calling in question 
 his grace, suspecting his power, and slighting his Spirit; as though 
 the power of sin, satan and the world were greater than thy Lord's, 
 and could frustrate his gracious purposes towards thee. O think, it 
 is the blood of the Son of God which hath redeemed thee from all 
 thy sins ; it was the Spirit of God that quickened thy soul when 
 dead in sin ; it was his grace that brought thee to Jesus for salvation ; 
 and all this because the Father loved thee with an everlasting love. 
 Now set all this against all the powers of sin and darkness, and say, 
 which is greatest? Who shall prevail? Look not to thy own strength; 
 depend not on thy own graces ; be not over-elated by thy fine frames : 
 be not dejected under dark ones : " trust in the Lord for ever, for in 
 the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."....Isa. xxvi. 4. 
 
 How many fears our souls distress, O Lord give faith, and faith's increase> 
 Through cursed unbelief! To trust thee ev'ry hour, 
 
 Save us, O Lord, our righteousness, That we may feel our hearts at ease, 
 From this malignant thief. Thro' thine almighty pow'r. M. 
 
 Vol. IL Q 
 
122 APRIL 29. 
 
 Believe in the Lord rjour God, so shall ye be established. 
 Believe h is prophets, so shall ye prosper. . . .2 Chron . xx . 20, 
 
 Si'CH was the advice of good Jehoshaphat in a time of invasion 
 by a poAverful ainiy. Precious words; at all times seasonable. 
 What can a child of God desire on this side glory so much as estab- 
 lishment of mind and prosperity of soul ? Both are obtained by faith ; 
 as the mind is established so the soul prospers. 1st. What is implied 
 in being established? It is to be fixed and settled in the confidence 
 of one's mind and not to halt between two opinions, as those of old 
 did between God and an idol....l Kings xviii. 21. To halt is to be 
 lame on both sides ; thus their minds were in suspense, agitated 
 between two objects, and not steadily fixed upon either; so many 
 sincere souls are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine ; they 
 are like children, not steadily fixed in their judgment, nor settled in 
 their confidence in the Lord; yet they delight to hear the truths of 
 (.iod: in hearing their souls are refreshed; but when hearing is 
 cvtr, their minds are shaken, their doubts and fears again return. O 
 fice and rejoice, for, 2d. the Lord himself is set forth as the object 
 of our faith; believe, or trust in the Lord your God; nothing can 
 establish the soul but faith. Lord increase our faith : and to prayer 
 wc should add earnest diligence in searching the scriptures, con- 
 sidering the freeness, fulness, and suitableness of the promises of 
 the Lord to us. To believe in the Lord, is to trust in and repose 
 our n^inds upon his covenant-grace and love in Christ Jesus: to take 
 Itim, as he has revealed himself, as our God and Father: to trust 
 uur souls and all our concerns in his hands, just as little children do 
 by their fathers. Their minds have no doubt of their Father's love 
 to them; v/hcn they want any thing they ask for it; when in soriwy 
 they tell him of it; and yet, what parent on earth has such an heart 
 of love to his children as our heavenly Father has to us? Did any 
 one ever so freely, fully, and affectionately manifest it? Be ashamed 
 •of your unbelief which keeps your souls from being established in his 
 grace and truth : " it is a good thing that the heart be established witl* 
 grace. "....Ileb. xiii. 9. Do we desire it, that our souls may prosper ? 
 ■^Ihen "believe his prophets :" they testify of God the Father's 
 love ; of God the Son's salvation ; and of peace and joy in God the 
 Holy Ghost. Hear them and your soul shall be established in grace: 
 believe them and your soul shall prosper in comfort. 
 
 How oft do fears beset my heart, Establish, Lord, my heart in faith, 
 That I shall surely fall, Firm in thy truth to stand: 
 
 A prey to satan's deadly art, Daily to live on what thou saith, 
 And looac my Christ, my all ! VVliile in this barren land. M. 
 
APRIL 30. 12J 
 
 Strong meat beloiigeth to them that are of full age, even 
 those loho by reason of use, have their senses exercised to 
 discern both good and eviL...IIeb. v. 14. 
 
 It is hard for any who are called to minister in or write about 
 the truths of God, to please every one. Bcibes who are unskilful in 
 the word of righteousness, can only take milk : they cry out against 
 strong meat, it offends their stomach. But such should consider, 1st. 
 That they are not always to continue babes, to feed upon pap and 
 milk ; the tender mother tries her infant again and again with meat 
 though its stomach heaves against it and it has not the art to swallow 
 it ; so they must learn to eat strong meat that they may grow there- 
 by. 2d. God's children are not all of equal age, therefore strong 
 meat is as necessary for adult men as milk is for babes : those of full 
 age, or perfect. Not so, compared A\ith the perfect law of God : 
 there is no one upon earth perfect in this sense, though many through 
 perfect ignorance of the law and themselves, pretend to it: but per- 
 FKCT in comparison of babes, respecting the knowledge of the ever- 
 lasting, electing, immutable love of God in Christ to sinners; of his 
 freely and fully justifying and eternally glorifying them through the 
 blood and righteousness of his Son ; and of his eifeclually calling 
 and sanctifying them by his Spirit, Sec. Therefore, 3d. The most 
 deep and strong truths of God are held forth in scripture as strong 
 meat to nourish, comfort and build up such who are of full age: 
 hence it becomes those who labor in the word to give each their por- 
 tion ; that neither babes on one hand, nor strong men on the other, 
 • should have reasen to find fault. Babes should not expect the strong 
 to come back to their food ; but they should press forward to maturity. 
 How is this to be attained? 1st. "By reason of use:" constantly 
 searching the scriptures, and hearing them opened and explained, 
 just as a learner uses his grammar which contains the rudiments 
 of the language he wants to attain ; he cannot get forward without it: 
 he must be perfect in it : he is never to forget its rules. 2d . " By 
 the exercise of the senses:*' the internal ones of the understand- 
 ing and judgment: "Seeing Jesus."... .Heb. ii. 9. "Hearing his 
 voice.".. .. John X. 3. Smelling the sweet odour of his love : "his 
 name is as ointment poured forth. ".... Song i. 3. "Tasting that 
 the Lord is gracious.".... 1 Pet. ii. 3. " Handling the word of life 
 and salvation as held forth in the gospel."....! John i. 1. Thus exer- 
 cising our senses on Christ we grow strong to trust him: we discern 
 that all good is in him and all is evil without him. 
 
 From blest experience may vre prove Who feeds with meat that's from above. 
 The wisdom of God's righteous ways, According to our strength and days. 
 
\U MAY I. 
 
 They shall lake to them every man a lamb....Exod, xfi. 5. 
 
 This M-as God's appointed means of salvation in a night of sore 
 destruction. Here is a display of the sovereignty of God and the 
 obedience of faith. Lord enable us to bow to the one and to learn 
 more and more of the other. Consider, 1st. The sovereignty of God 
 in his SEVERITY upon his enemies and in his goodness to his people : 
 in destroying all the first-born of the former, and in preserving 
 every one of the latter : and this was in a way appointed by his sove- 
 reign mercy. There is no mercy from God to any sinner, but in 
 the M'ay he appoints. This was a lamb : "They shall take to them 
 every man a lamb." His flesh was to be their food, his blood their 
 salvation. Would not taking the flesh and blood of any other crea- 
 ture have answered the same end ? No : to attempt it would hare 
 been a direct act of unbelief of God's word and disobedience to his 
 will ; such a soul would have brought upon himself swift destruction. 
 O, beware lest you turn your eyes from the Lamb of God : there 
 is salvation in no other. See, 2d. The obedience of faith : we do not 
 find one Israelite destroyed ; they believed God's word, and obeyed 
 it: they did not dare to reply against God and say, wriAT dost 
 THOU ? Why wilt thou ? Is it just to destroy so many souls in one 
 night ? Why take a lamb and sprinkle his blood as our protection ? 
 Why institute this sign to us only, and not to the Egyptians also ? 
 Why not give them at least a chance of salvation ? O, the power of 
 faith ! It kills such arrogant speeches. The grace of faith in the 
 heart subdues the enmity of the carnal mind, bows the rebellious 
 will, stills the turbulency of nature, brings peace to the conscience 
 and love to the heart : for it takes and feeds upon the flesh, and trusts 
 alone in the blood of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin 
 of the world : this is God's appointed way of salvation. O, how 
 simple, how happy, is the believing soul 1 God and he are perfectly 
 agreed. God says, " take the Lamb, my beloved Son, as my free 
 gift for your whole salvation." The Lamb says, " my flesh is meat 
 indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.".... John vi. 5 5. And the 
 obedient sinner says. Lord I believe, help my unbelief. Dost thou 
 believe ? Hast thou experienced this I O, bless the loving Spirit 
 for the gift of precious faith ! Faith is the gift of God ; feed by 
 faith on the Lamb of God : thus take, thus receive, thus live upon 
 Christ and his fulness every day on earth till you see his face in 
 glory. Yet a little while and he shall come....Heb. x. 37. 
 
 There is salvation in the Lamb, Christ is my food, my robe, my joy, 
 
 For sinners vile as me : I take him thus by faith ; 
 
 1 glory in his precious name, No foes can e'er my soul destroy, . 
 
 And loBg his face to see. Christ is my life, my health. M. 
 
MAY 2. 125 
 
 }J any man sufer as a christian^ let him not be ashamed; 
 but let him 'glorify God on this behalf ...A Pet. iv. 16. 
 
 "The disciples were first called christians at Antioch."....Act3 
 xi. 26. It is a blessed name ; we ought ever to glory in it, and 
 never be ashamed of it ; but the bare name will no more avail us in 
 life, death and judgment, than to be called rich while we are in 
 pinching want. Christ signifies anoikted: "He was anointed to 
 be our Saviour."....Acts x. S8. All who are saved by him and come 
 to him, are his anointed ones. So St. John speaks of all Christ's 
 living members, "ye have an unction from the Holy One."....l John 
 ii. 20. To anoint is to consecrate and set apart for holy and spiritual 
 purposes. Christians are consecrated and set apart from the rest of 
 the world, to be a people peculiarly devoted to the glory of Jesus; 
 they are the jewels which compose his mediatorial crown. Are you 
 thus higlily honored by the Lord of life and glory? Is your soul 
 anointed by the Spirit of Christ? Then verily the world will also 
 anoint you with their spirit; the more the unction of the Holy One 
 is manifest in your walk and conversation, so much the more will the 
 wicked one and his children bespatter and besmear your character 
 with reproach and imfamy : thus you will be sure to suffer as a chris- 
 tian; at least in your good name. This must be cast out as evil. 
 Only take heed that you sufler as a christian; that it be for con- 
 fessing Christ and adorning his gospel. As you love Christ, and 
 have a tender concern for his glory, O let him not be wounded and 
 his cause dishonored by any unholy, unjust, immoral actions, &,c. 
 Remember, the men of the world are vulture-eyed to your faults, 
 glad to espy and eager to proclaim them with an air of triumph, 
 saying, "see here, th«se are your christians." But if you really 
 do sufler as a christian who have given up yourself to be a disciple 
 of Christ, art following him in the regeneration, and therefore art 
 the butt of contempt and a mark to be shot at by the prophane wit of 
 ungodly men : be not ashamed : be not confounded : do not hang 
 down your head with fear, but look up to God with joy : glorify hini 
 for thus honoring you: remember on whose behalf you suffer: put 
 all your sufferings for Christ to his account : you have Christ's note 
 of hand; he will surely pay it: but if you are ashamed, it is a sign 
 you cannot credit him. What ! is the credit of Jesus, the God of 
 truth, bad in your eyes ? Be ashamed for want of faith to trust 
 him: meditate often on that day, when Christ shall come, in the 
 glory of his Father, to confess them who now confess him....Luk0 
 xii. 8. 
 
 Dear Lord, who suffered once for ni« So fill my mind with love to thee. 
 Upon the shameful cross, To count no shame my loss. M. 
 
126 MAY 3. 
 
 li'ith his stripes ice are /icalcc{....Is4. liii. 5, 
 
 A GRKAT professor once said to me, " I can never conceive how 
 one man can be made righteous by the righteousness of another." 
 Thus his carnal reason led him lo object against Christ's righteous- 
 ness being imputed to us. I replied, why then do you profess to 
 believe that your sins can be washed away by the blood of another r 
 He was silent. " Without controversy, great is the mystery of godli- 
 ness:" too great a mystery for human reason to comprehend, but 
 •not too great for divine faith to receive, to the joy of the soul. Sin 
 is a malignant and mortal disease: the soul must die eternally of it, 
 unless healed: this healing the soul is the pardoning of sin; this 
 is obtained by the stripes of Christ. You feel the evil of sin: you 
 mourn over the guilt of sin : you groan under the burden of in-dwell- 
 ing sin, from day to day. The Spirit of truth, the comforter, 
 here holds forth a blessed remedy for you to look to for pardon of 
 sin, peace of conscience, and healing of soul: the stripes of 
 Jesus : just as though the Lord proclaimed to a world of diseased 
 sinners, " this is your only remedy, so sure as you are sinners and 
 feel sin in your nature, so truly did the Son of God take upon him 
 the SAME nature, had all your sins laid upon and imputed to him, 
 and in that nature was cursed by the law as a malefactor, wounded, 
 bruised and put to death by divine justice, as the greatest sinner by 
 imputation that ever lived : that hereby your sins, all your sins, are 
 fully pardoned, and your souls as perfectly healed of the disease of 
 sin as though it had never infected you : look to any thing but the 
 stripes of Christ, and you will be miserable : look to these only and 
 alone, and you shall find health, joy and salvation." Sin-sick soul, 
 what, say est thou to this? "Lord increase my faith." That is a 
 precious prayer : that dear Lord who suffered stripes for thy sin that 
 thou mightest be healed of thy sins ; that dear Spirit who convinced 
 thee of sin and made thee sick of sin, will surely answer the prayer 
 of faith and give thee the joy of faith, and thou shalt say, " Bless 
 the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth 
 all thine iniquities, and healeth all thy diseases.".. ..Psalm ciii. 2, 3. 
 O, what a marvellous way is this of healing our souls 1 It is God's 
 way. Unconvinced sinners care not about it ; proud, self-righteous 
 souls reject it ; licentious spirits abuse it ; believing, humble hearts 
 rejoice in it, give Christ the glory of it, and walk worthy of the 
 Lord, to all pleasing.. ..Col. i. 10. 
 
 Strict justice Christ hath satisfied. This is the faith which works by lov» 
 By pains, and stripes, and death: Of our dear sulT'ring Lord : 
 
 By these our souls are justiticd, It lifts our souls to joys above, 
 And comforted in faith. Obeys his holy word. M. 
 
MAY 4. 12r 
 
 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of GoU, that ye 
 may be able to zvithstand in the evil day, and having done 
 all to stand. ...Ephes. vi. J 3. 
 
 Paul was an experienced veteran in the camp of. Christ ; he 
 had been in many campaigns ; fought many battles under the cap- 
 tain of his salvation, ap:ainst his combined enemies, the world, the 
 flesh and the devil ; he warns his fellow-soldiers of their foes and 
 dangers, by exhorting them to take and put on nothing less than the 
 whole armour of God. The very same armour which he himself 
 fought in is provided for us also. Blessed be God for that : as sure 
 as Paul fought his way through, and is got safe to glory, so shall we 
 also in this armour of God. O christian, consider this is not an 
 armour of flesh and blood, not what is natural to man, or is in tl^.e 
 power of man to provide for himself; but the Lord of hosts, the 
 God of the armies of the whole earth, hath provided it for all Christ's 
 good soldiers. What is this armour of God ? It is the Son of his 
 love, the Lord Jesus himself; he is the christian's whole and com- 
 plete armour : in Christ alone he stands his ground, fights and con- 
 quers every enemy : without Christ we can do nothing but faint and 
 fly. Take this whole armour : put it on saith Paul : Christ is 
 yours ; he is the gift of God to you ; " put on the Lord Jksus." 
 ....Rom. xiii. 14. Just as one puts on armour for defence, so take, 
 put on, arm your minds with the whole person of Christ, his love, 
 righteousness and atonement, all his ofTices, yea, the whole salva- 
 tion of Christ : this, and nothing but this, what Christ is to us 
 iind hath done for us, is proof against every enemy in the evil day 
 of battle. That ye may be able to stand. O soldier, Christ 
 is your strength; your standing is by his power. Against all 
 THK WILES OF THE DEVIL. Is satan very cunning and very power- 
 ful, full of force and fraud ? Is he too much for you to resist and 
 conquer ? Remember, Christ is your whole armour : all wisdom 
 lies in the head ; Christ is your head ; he is to you made wisdom ; 
 all courage comes from the heart ; " Christ dwells there by faith.".... 
 Eph. iii. 17. Thus armed you are a match, an over-match for the 
 devil, and proof against all his devices ; you never can fall, fail 
 or be wounded, while fighting in his armour, " for you shall be 
 strengthened by the Spirit's might, in the inner man." Satan 
 must first wound Christ before he can reach you ; first conquer 
 CiU'ist before he can conquer you. O then, christian, look at your 
 armour, not at your weak, defenceless self: be strong : be of good 
 courage : shout your victorv, more than conquerors, through 
 Christ who loved us.. ..Rom. viii. 37. 
 
 Without the armour of my God, O, may I dally put it on, 
 
 I cannot stand against one foej And thereby vanquish ev'ry woe. M. 
 
12$ JMAY 5. 
 
 Slaiid tlierefore, liaving your loins girt about with truth, 
 ani having on the breast-plate of righteous?iess....Ephes. 
 vi. 14. 
 Soldiers of Christ, hear and obey the word of command.... 
 STAND. Against every enemy, stand to your arms ; against all op- 
 position from within and without maintain your ground ; face all, 
 fight all, conquer all. Does sin attack, satan assault, the world 
 threaten ? Do corruptions rage, temptations beset, and carnal nature 
 rebel? Are thine enemies many and potent? Is their fury great? 
 Is the battle strong ? Stand therefore. Why ? Because you have 
 put on the whole armour of God. Jesus is with you, upon you, 
 over you, and engaged for you : therefore, " stand fast in the Lord." 
 .... 1 Thess. iii. 8. And in the power of his might, having your 
 LOINS GIRT. Long standing makes the loins faint and weak : " Is 
 there much pain in the loins?" Here is thy Lord's command ; gird 
 up the loins of thy mind; make thy loins strong; "fortify thy 
 power mightily.".... Nahum ii. 1. How? Here is a girdle for 
 thee : girt about with truth. What is truth ? Christ answers, 
 " I AM the truth.".... John xiv. 6. Christ and the truth as it is 
 in him, is like a girdle to the loins to brace up and strengthen the 
 mind. Hast thou not often found it so, O soldier of Christ ? When 
 weary and faint in thy mind, under long and sharp conflicts with 
 the enemy, hath not thy soul been revived and thy mind animated 
 with fresh strength and vigor, by again girding thy loins with the 
 love, the grace, the truth, and the salvation of Jesus ? This was 
 David's experience ; " thou hast girded me with gladness.".. ..Psalm 
 XXX. 11. "Thou hast girded me with strength to battle.".... 
 2 Sam. xxii. 40. O, think not of standing without the girdle of 
 truth : let Christ and his truths be the strength of thy loins and the 
 glory of thy soul ; having on the brkast-plate of righte- 
 ousness ; notourovvn, that is defective ; as well have on a spider's 
 web'; it will not defend the heart ; the enemy will wound the breast 
 through it ; no other righteousness than that in which we stand 
 perfectly justified in the sight of God can effectually defend our 
 breast against the enemy ; this is the one perfect, everlasting righte- 
 ousness of him, who is " the Lord our righteousness.".... 
 Jcr. xxiii. 6. Christ by his obedience unto death wrought it out. 
 The Spirit convinces us of our want of it ; God the Father imputes 
 it ; the sinner accepts it by faith, glories of it, and rejoices in it ; 
 BO enemy can stand against it ; it is a guard against, and repels the 
 accusations of satan, and is security against all condemnation. 
 
 If 1 could keep Cod's holy law, But since I sin in all I do, 
 
 And -every jot fulfil, And yet would never sin, 
 
 My riglueouttness I would not know, I'll daily to my Saviour go, 
 
 My Lord's my glory still. For peace and joy within. M. 
 
MAY 6. 129 
 
 And your feet shod ivlth the preparation of the gospel cf 
 peace.... Ephes. vi, 15, 
 
 Soldiers of Christ, you are not only commanded to stand 
 against every enemy, but to march on : to follow the captain of your 
 salvation in the way to eternal glory. Here you must expect the 
 enemy will strive to retard your march ; he will strew the road with 
 difficulties and entanglements, with briers and thorns ; make it rug- 
 ged and almost impassable, as though every step was upon sharp 
 stones and goading spikes. Your feet must be shod, or you will 
 halt when you should march, turn back when you should go forward. 
 " No one can make a shoe to the creature's foot, so as he shall go 
 on easy, in a hard way, but Christ; he can do it to the soldiers full 
 content. How doth he it ? Truly, no other way than underlaying 
 it: or if you will, lining it with the peace of the gospel. What 
 though the way be set with sharp stones? If this shoe go between 
 the christian's foot and them, they cannot be much felt.".... Gur«a/'* 
 Christian Armour. Shod with the preparation: Dr. Gill observes, 
 this word signifies a base or foundation. Says Paul, "other foun- 
 dation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.".... 
 1 Cor. iii. 1 1. Christ was laid as the only foundation of a sinner's 
 peace, in the everlasting council and covenant by Jehovih in trinity : 
 peace is preached by him in the gospel of peace. When the heart 
 has a solid, scriptural, experimental knowledge of this by faith, it 
 cries out with joy, " Christ is our peace.".. ..Eph. ii. 14. " We have 
 peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.".. ..Rom. v. 1. 
 This peace in the heart becomes as it were shoes to the feet, to enable 
 the christian soldier to trample upon every difficulty and danger, 
 and to run the way of God's commands with love and delight ; for, 
 saith the Lord, "thy shoes shall be iron and brass : proof against 
 every obstacle, and preservation from every hindrance in the way : 
 and as thy days so shall thy strength be."....Deut. xxxiii. 25. Thy 
 days are all in Christ; thy strength to walk on is from him; thy 
 captain, O soldier, sees thy every conflict, eyes thee in every diffi- 
 culty and danger, and according to his rich love and marvellous grace 
 has given thee exceeding great and precious promises, that by these 
 you might be partaker of the divine nature....2 Pet. i. 4. Therefore, 
 
 March on, nor fear to win the day, 
 
 The* death and hell obstruct the way. 
 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye 
 in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye 
 have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."....Col.ii.6,7. 
 
 The gospel brings the joyful news, When peace of God prevails within, 
 Of peace with God thro' Christ : We march on steadily, 
 
 This as it were supplies with shoes Defying satan, world and sin, 
 To stand, and foes resist. Complete in victory. M, 
 
 Vol, H. R 
 
130 MAY r. 
 
 Above all taking the shield of faith.... Kphes. vi. 16. 
 
 WnEK Christ has the heart, it will say, if I can see nothing: of 
 Christ in the text, that text is nothing to me. Here is a shield of 
 defence. What is it? a mere assent of the mind ? a cold consent of 
 the tongue to some certain propositions? Is this the shield of faith 
 vhich will cover my head and defend my heart in the day of battle I 
 Is it believing a system of doctrines, without having the heart warmed 
 with love, or the life influenced by the power of them, that the 
 apostle exhorts me above all to take? O no : nothing less is this 
 shield of faith than Christ, precious Christ; never, never have any 
 idea of faith without including its author and object; otherwise it 
 is a mere non-entity ; a notion which has no real existence but in 
 fancy. When one hears people insist that faith is our righteous- 
 ness, that faith is imputed to us for righteousness, one is lead to 
 think they take up, and are in love with some fancied excellence in 
 themselves instead of the excellence and glory of the Lord our 
 righteousness: it is him the grace of faith ever exalts. Have 
 you faith? Is Christ the glory and excellence of your faith and of 
 vour heart? Then above all, or overall things else, take this shield 
 of faith. Fiery darts, shot from the burning malice of hell, are 
 flying thick around us; such as strong temptations exciting burning 
 lusts, blasphemous injections, horrid thoughts of God, debasing 
 thoughts of Christ, distressing and despairing ones of the hope of 
 ealvation by him. O, how do these fieiy darts of the enemy tend 
 to burn up the peace, hope, consolation, and joy of the soul. Ah, 
 ■ays satan, you a child of God; you a believer in Christ; you an 
 heir of glory ; your faith is fancy, your hope delusion ; you are a 
 curse<l sinner in all you do ; you had better give over your profes- 
 sion, give up your hope, and enjoy yourself in the world, for all 
 your expectations are only vain. What can the poor sinner say ? 
 How repel, how quench such fiery darts? Only by taking the shield 
 of faith ; holding up the work of Jestis for him against them all. 
 My Saviour's blood atoned for all my sins ; his blood cleanseth from 
 ALL sin; all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven ; in hia 
 righteousness I am justified from all things; there is now no con- 
 demnation to me, for I am in Christ Jesus: all this I believe. 
 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? 
 
 Not faith, but Christ, he is my shield, Father, I Wess thee for thy Son, 
 By faith 1 him confess: And thou, O Spirit, for faith, [donr, 
 
 I stand unconquer'd in the field, And Christ, for all which thou hast 
 Christ is my righteousness. For vict'ry over death. M-. 
 
MAY 8. ' 131 
 
 And take the helmet of salvation.... Ephes. vi. 17. 
 
 It is excellently said, " Resolve for hardships, or lay down thine 
 arms. Few come at the beat of Christ's drum to his standard. 
 Many that list by external profession under him, after a while drop 
 away and leave his colours. It is suffering work they are sick of. 
 Many men are more tender of their skin than of their conscience ; 
 they had rather the gospel had provided armour to defend their bodies 
 from death and danger than their souls from sin and satan."....G2ir- 
 nal's Christian Armour. All this is because they have not on the hel- 
 met of salvation. What is this? For an helmet, " The hope of sal- 
 vation.".... 1 Thess. V. 8. Do not all naturally hope to be saved ? Yes, 
 so«ie in one way and some in another: but all natural hopes are 
 false hopes ; therefore they die and perish: but this helmet is a 
 super-natural and divine hope. All men have not faith ; therefore they 
 have not Christ who is the helmet of hope, "The Lord Jesus is ouf 
 hope.".... 1 Tim. i. 1. We have received him into our hearts by 
 faith; he is the only hope of our souls. Now, soldier, you are 
 daily, and every day, to take and put on this precious helmet of sal- 
 vation, that you may lift up your head in every day of battle. Ever 
 lay this down as a fixed maxim in your heart, whatever grace the 
 Spirit works in you, as faith, hope, love. Sec. it is, that you should 
 exalt Christ the Lord of all grace, out of whose fulness you receive 
 grace for grace. Mind this: you are not to live upon hope as a 
 grace within you ; but to take Christ, all that he is to you and has 
 done for you, as the object of your hope and the helmet of your 
 salvation. Many arc apt to look more to, and trast more in graces 
 in themselves, than Christ giving himself for them. The Spirit 
 docs nothing in us to glorify us, but to glorify Jesus, to endear him 
 to us, and that we should glory more and more of him and in him. 
 Take this helmet, for this keeps hope alive in the heart: it is of 
 continual use to us; we are in peqietual danger: it defends the 
 head: it makes the heart happy : inspires with courage: fortifies the 
 mind and purifies the life : no wonder then th« enemy strives to rob 
 us of the comfort of hope : no marvel, the Spirit, the comforter, 
 commands us to take, put on, ajid keep on, this blessed helmet ©f 
 salvation, the work of Christ, which, is our finished salvation. In 
 that we stand perfect and complete in the will of God: this will 
 guard our heads against corrupt doctrines, and give courage to our 
 hearts in the heat of battle against affliction and distress: "Hope 
 thou in God."....Psalm xlii. 5. 
 
 In thy salvation, O my Lord, This helmet doth my head defend. 
 May I ever stand complete; From all deceit and error; 
 
 'Tis this doth peace aaid joy afford", Gives courage to my heart andhand". 
 This is my only helmet. 'Gainst Satan's rage and terror. M. 
 
>3J MAY 9. 
 
 Jjid take fhe sword of the Spirit y which is the word cj God^ 
 Ephcs. vi. 17. 
 
 Soldiers of Christ, all hail! Happy ye: Christ is your whole 
 arnjour, 1st. Christ, who is the truth, is the strengttj of your 
 loins : his righteousness is your hreast-plate of defence. 2d. He is 
 the sum and substance of the gospel of peace, whereby our feet are 
 shod to march against the enemy. 3d. The author and object of 
 faith: our shield, to quench all the fiery dart^ of the wicked one. 
 4th. Our helmet of hope. Thus, by the grace of the Spirit, put 
 him on as your armour. Then, what dangers may you not face ? 
 What enemies have you to fear? But forget not your sword: 
 though but just entered the field, you must know the use of it and 
 necessity for it: it is offensive to your enemy, defensive of yourself. 
 What a poor figure would a soldier cut in the field of battle M'ith- 
 out his sword? Just so would you without tue sword of thk 
 Spirit, called the word of God. For, 1st. By.it he conquers the 
 pride of our hearts, the self-righteousness of our spirits, and the 
 rebellion of our nature against Christ and his salvation. 2d. He fur- 
 nishes us with it, and enables us to get victory by it over our cor- 
 rupt reason, the injections of satan, and the objections of carnal 
 inen against the mystery of Christ, hope in him, and salvation by 
 him., Take this sword: hold fast the faithful word, abide by it; 
 stand to it : as a centinel, with this sword in tliine hand, guard thy 
 heart against every intruding, insulting foe, all the lying accusa- 
 tions, soul-dejecting, Christ-dishonoring suggestions of satan. Not 
 only so, but like Esau, "by thy sword thou shalt live;" live upon 
 what thy sword brings in from day to day, out of the precious word 
 of God, out of the fulness of the grace of Jesus, and the precious 
 promises in him. Having such an armour, the Lord forbid that wc 
 should be like the children of Ephraim, who turned back in the day 
 of battle !.... Psalm Ixxviii. 9. Lord strengthen us that we may never 
 be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, but manfully to 
 fight under his banner against sin, the world and the devil, and so 
 continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto our lives' end. 
 Is this the one desire of your soul ? O, bless the Spirit for it : hold 
 fast the sword which he hath put into your hand: hold up, thus saith 
 the Lord, thus it is written, against every foe. Neither men nor 
 devils can stand against the word of the Lord, " It is sharper than 
 any two-edged sword."....Heb. iv. 12. 
 
 O. may thv word, thy precious word, Spirit divine, teach me the art 
 
 My Saviour and mv God Thy blessed sword to wield, 
 
 AganiM m> f les me help afford, That 1 thereby may guard my heart. 
 
 All thro* iliis dang'rousi road. And ever keep the field. M. 
 
MAY 10. 133 
 
 Praying alw'aijs xcith all prayer. . . . Eph . v i . 18. 
 
 * Onk, by way of banter, said tome, " I will treat you with a 
 play if you will go with me to-night." I thanked him and to^ 
 him I would accompany him, if I could be sure it would biingmorc 
 cf the love of Christ into my heart : this, this is worth living for, 
 using any means to promote, and going any where to procure. B^it, 
 here is a weapon which defends us against all temptations to go to 
 such places, or do such things, which are contrary to the peace of 
 our souls and damp the love of Christ in our hearts. That soul who 
 keeps up sweet fellowship with God at a throne of grace is dead to 
 sensual gratifications ; the more prayer, the more spiritual life from 
 Christ ; the more spiritual life, the more prayer to Christ ; the more 
 we enjoy Christ, the less we desire from the world. Prayiks : 
 this is the last weapon of our warfare ; it will be used by soldiers to 
 the last moment of life. God be merciful to me a sinner ; Jesus 
 save or I perish, are suitable petitions for a dying soldier of Christ: 
 we are sure such prayer of faitii God will answer. Praying al- 
 ways : M'e arc prone to think we are not always in a fit frame to pray. 
 Who but Christ can put our souls in a better ? Therefore, pray him 
 to do it. •" I am oppressed," said Hezekiah. What then ? Did he 
 cease to pray ? No: " O Lord, undertake for me."....Isa. xxxviii. 14. 
 Tl-.e undertaking of Jesus we want always ; therefore, should pray 
 for it always. With all prayer: every kind of prayer : though 
 armed with the whole armour of God, yet no victory without the 
 power of God. The most secret sigh of the soul is heard by God, 
 as well as the loudest cry of the tongue. If your lot is cast into 
 the worst of company, there your heart may pray ; God can hear ; 
 you then ought to pray that God may keep you. Are you low in 
 your frame and uncomfortable in your soul ? Why is this ? That 
 you should call upon the Lord. Do you fear your enemies will 
 prevail ? Improve fears into prayers ; call on the Saviour ; the 
 more prayer, the more victory : the more victory, the more love. 
 Love is heaven below : thus we go on conquering and to conquer. 
 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death : praying souls may 
 joyfully shout victory over death, and all things, " more than con- 
 querors through him who loved us."... .Rom. viii. 37. Is this the 
 state ? this the faith of praying christians ? Who brought them 
 into this happy state, this joyful faith ? The question excites grati- 
 tude, and calls forth praise to Jesus, the author and finisher of our 
 faith....Heb. xii. 2. 
 
 Our captain loves to hear When we grow faint and weak, 
 
 His soldiers' praying voice : And dread our en'mies' pow'r, 
 
 Courage he gives, forbids our fear, This is the time fresh strength to seek. 
 
 Commands us to rejoice. For yict'rjr in that hour. M. 
 
154 MAY 11. 
 
 Thcj'e is one body and one Spirit.. ..Eph. iv. 4. 
 
 Paul exhorts saints to a holr, loving, peaceful walk: he knew 
 nothing conld effect this like the consideration that they all com- 
 por.ed one body, of which the holy, loving, peaceful Jesus is the 
 head : while the power of this truth lives in the heart, love prevails 
 in holiness before God and peace with our brethren ; then, in sweet 
 fellowship we say with Abraham to Lot, " let there be no strife I 
 pray thee between me and thee, for we are brethren. "....Gen. xiii. 8. 
 There is one dody : saith our Lord, " a body hast thou prepared 
 ine."....Heb. x. 5. As Christ had a natural body, formed by the 
 power of the Holy Ghost, which he was to inhabit, in which he 
 was to atone for sin, fulfil all righteousness, and make intercession 
 for transgressors ; so he has also a mystical body, chosen and given 
 to him by God the Father ; in and over all these he is head. This 
 is a sweet word " God gave Christ, to be head overall things, to 
 the church which is his body.".. ..Eph. i. 22. Believing sinner, 
 art thou a member of this blessed body, united to this evei precious, 
 ever glorious head ? Envy not monarchs ; covet not more ; study 
 thy dignity ; live like thyself ; glory in thy head ; look down with 
 contempt on all things below Christ and heaven. There is one 
 Spirit : he flows from the head, hath united us to the head, 
 makes us like the head, and causes us to rejoice in the head ; for 
 Christ is all and in all his members : by this one Spirit he animates, 
 guides, and comforts them. Learn hence, 1st. To love and praise 
 God for the gift of Jesus to be all things to us. 2d. To glory of, 
 and rejoice in Christ our head, who has done all for us and is all to 
 us, " for in him we are complete. ".... Col. ii. 10. 3d. Give glory 
 to the loving Spirit who convinced us of sin, shewed us Christ, knit 
 our hearts to him by faith, and causes us to look to, live upon, and 
 be comforted by Jesus our covenant head. 4th. Endeavor to keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace between Christ and his 
 members. Saints' strifes are satan's sport : they grieve the Spirit 
 and distress our minds. As we expect to live together with our 
 head above, "let us follow the things which make for peace and 
 wherewith one may edify another below. "....Rom. xiv. 19. The 
 ])o\ver of this faith, of being one with Christ, is most amazing ; it 
 works by the love of Christ, produces love to him and to all his 
 incmbtrs, as being one in him ; Lord increase our faith. 
 
 United unto Christ our head, 'Twill not be long before Christ come. 
 By the dear Spirit's pow'r, We hear our bridegroom's voice: 
 
 We feed on him our livit.g bread. He made us one, he'll take us home; 
 And wait his coming hour. M/ soul in this rejoice. M. 
 
JVIAY 12. 135 
 
 Ye are called in one hope of your calling. ...Ephcs. iv. 4. 
 
 What a glorious day was that to Saul when the Lord called to 
 him from heaven and said, I am Jesus your Saviour! Says one, 
 " O that I was so sure that Christ hath called me, as he did Paul! 
 Then how happy should I be I" Verily, thou maycst be happy : 
 thou may est be as sure thou art as effectually called, as Paul was : 
 thy concern of mind about it is a clear evidence and full proof of 
 it. While in a state of natural ignorance and unbelief of Christ, 
 had Paul a single wish or desire to be called by Christ? Nor wouldst 
 thou, if Christ had not first called thee by the grace of his word and 
 the power of his Spirit ; therefore, doubt not of, but rejoice in the 
 hope of thy calling. Love Christ for calling thee ; give him the 
 glory of it. Ye are called: the effects prove it. Ve who were 
 dead in sin, without hope in Christ, have ears to hear the word of 
 Christ, eyes to see the glory of Christ, a heart to desire Christ as 
 your only hope and salvation : his day of call was his day of power, 
 when you were made willing to have but one hope. As there is 
 but ONE atonement for sin, but one righteousness to justify from 
 sin, but ONE mediator between God and sinners; but one advocate 
 to plead for sinners, but one Jesus to save, and but one Spirit to 
 sanctify sinners; so there is but one and the same hope in every 
 called sinner: ihey all hope for heaven because God has declared it 
 to be by his free gift to sinners, through his one beloved and only 
 Son. Are we called in this one hope? Then, Ist. Let us not be 
 looking to any thing in us, nor done by us : neither to graces wrought 
 in us, nor works done by us, as our hope ; this would exalt pride 
 against our dear Saviour, "who is our one and only hope."....1 Tim. 
 i. 1. 2d. Let us not be dejected or discouraged though we find 
 ourselves imperfect creatures, unprofitable servants, yea miserable 
 sinners; for that were to depreciate the atonement and righteous- 
 ness of Christ, as though the one M'as not fully available to take 
 away our sins, and the other not perfectly sufficient to justify our 
 persons and make us acceptable to God. Blessed be God, at all 
 times, under all circumstances our hope is one and invariably the 
 same; therefore, "we rejoice in hope of the glory of God: and 
 hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad 
 in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given to u3."....Rom. 
 V. 5. Well, christian, if thou hast got this one hope, thou hast 
 constant reason for joy in God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 And am I call'd to hope in Christ, But thine's the pow'r, O God of might. 
 
 The face of God to see ? With strength my soul endue : 
 
 Then my base lusts I will resist, Let faith and love sweetly unite, 
 
 And from all evil flee. Holiness to pursue. M. 
 
IS6 May 13, 
 
 One Lord y one faiths one baptism.... Ephes. iv. 5. 
 
 Jesus saith of his church, " my dove, my undefiled is but 
 onp."....Song; vi. 9. One body composed of various members, es- 
 poused to him by the Spirit, as to " one husband. "....2 Cor. xi. 2* 
 Hence called his own body.-.Eph. i. 23. All such are most dear td 
 the Lord : he nourisheth and cherisheth them; for they are mem* 
 bers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. ...Eph. v. 30. He 
 is their one Lord, and his name is oNE....Zech. xiv. 9. This is most 
 true in doctrine ; but this is not all, for it is found most sweet in 
 experience also. This is by one faith : by this we enjoy and 
 walk in sweet and holy fellowship with our Lord and head. What 
 if I was told there is one sun, what comfort is that to me if I never 
 was to see its light, feel its warmth, and enjoy its influence? What- 
 ever is written of our one Lord is enjoyed in experience by this onr 
 faith : but some talk of various sorts of faith, as faith of adhe- 
 rence, faith of reliance, failh of assurance, 8cc. this only puzzle* 
 the head and perplexes the heart of many sincere disciples of Christ 
 to define such notions ; this one faith is very simple : by it the heart 
 fixes upon the one atonement, the one righteousness, the one 
 mediation, and the one salvation of the Son of God ; as it looks to 
 nothing else for hope, so by it Christ is most precious to the soul, 
 and by faith Christ keeps the soul unto salvation. Happy partakers 
 of this one faith 1 How are we made thus happy in ok e Lord, 
 through one faith? By one baptism of the Spirit into the saving 
 knowledge of, and joyful hope in Jesus our Saviour : " 1 or 
 by one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body.".... I Cor. xii. 13» 
 Water-baptism is only the outward and visible sign of the 
 inward and spiritual grace of the Holy Ghost in this one bap- 
 tism. O, that the dear members of this one Lord studied more 
 to provoke each other to love and good works, instead of disputinr^ 
 about the outward sign of baptism: the cold water of strife and 
 contention can never warm the heart v/ith love to Christ and one 
 another. As being all one in Christ, let our one contention be 
 to live in the Spirit and walk in love. The Lord baptize us with the 
 fire of love! This -will burn up the unhallowed strife of natures 
 Though we cannot think alike about baptism, yet if we have one 
 Lord and one faith, we can, we ought to unite in this, to love as 
 BRETHREN.... 1 Pet. iii. 8. Love is a genuine fruit of the Spirit.... 
 Gal. V. 22. A grace which neither carnal men nor apostate dei'ils 
 ever can possess; is therefore a sure evidence that we arc born of 
 God and divcU in God; for " love is of God.".... I John iv. 7. 
 
 Baptize us by thy Spirit, Lord, O may it he our greatest strife, 
 
 With holy faith and hcav'nly love, Wlio most shall honor thee our Lord, 
 
 So shall we best proclaim abroad, Wilh love of heart and holy life, 
 
 That w« resemble saintb above. Agreeable unto thy word. M. 
 
MAY 14. jsr 
 
 Xoiv the just shall live by faith.. ..Ileb. x. 38. 
 
 Then they \rill highly prize the word of God, "for by that 
 faith Cometh. "....Rom. x. 17. Prophets and apostles, Old Testa- 
 nrient saints and New, speak by one and the same Spirit, one and 
 the same language, of one and the same life. " The just shall live 
 by his faith," says Habbak. ii. 4. Mind: it is not said, the just, or 
 justified sinner shall live for his faith ; this would be to sul)stitute. 
 faith in the room of its blessed object Jesus, who saith, "because I 
 live, ye shall live also.".. ..John xiv. 19. Nor is it said he shall live 
 UPON his faith: we are too apt to look more to, and live more upon 
 what M'e think faith, which is rather the feelings of sense, than upon 
 Christ the object of faith. It is said of Esau, "by thy sword shalt 
 thou live. "....Gen. xxvii. 40. To have lived i-'pon his sword would 
 have been hard food indeed; but he lived upon the precious morsels 
 his sword brought in: so the believing sinner, justified in the righte- 
 ousness of Christ, is to live, as we say, from hand to mouth ; upon 
 what faith brings into his mind from the word of Christ, day by day. 
 Eternal praise to the holy Spirit, who quickened our once dead souls 
 to this holy, spiritual life: and he says, "we shall live by faith." 
 This demands fresh praises every moment, while we thus live in 
 Christ and upon Christ by faith. Shall live: O, what is implied 
 in this 1 Even that this faith shall never be lost, nor the soul of any 
 justified sinner perish : for he is in Christ, who is the way to the 
 kingdom, the tkuth of the kingdom, and the life of all the chosen 
 -to inherit the kingdom. Hast thou faith, though but as a grain of mus- 
 tard seed? Consider not thy faith, though weak, but the author and 
 object of it, Jesus, who is almighty to save: though, under the 
 sentence of death for sin in thyself, yet in him thou hast righteous- 
 ness and justification unto eternal life. Lord increase our faith, thiit 
 we may live more above Aviih thee in heart and aft'ection, in con- 
 quest over sin, victory over the world, triumph over the accusations 
 of satan, the condemnation of the law, and the terrors of death. 
 Thus the life of faith is a life of present peace, precious love, joy- 
 ful hope, and holy obedience : for Christ is our life. O, let us take 
 heed lest we draw back from this our most holy, humble faith, 
 either to self-righteousness on one hand or ungodliness on tl:e other. 
 Both these oppose the life of faith, the joy of hope, and the com- 
 forts of love which are in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Some trust on works and some on faith, Faith makes Christ precious to the 
 And some don't trust at all : Embracing: him within : [heart, 
 
 O, may 1 live oa what Christ saith, That soul has learnt the heavenly art, 
 That's the best life of all. Who lives on nought but him. M. 
 
 Vol. II. S 
 
138 MAY 15. 
 
 But some arc fallen asleep. ...I Cor. xv. 6. 
 
 It is the united testimony of faithful witnesses, that Jesus is 
 risen indeed : but what is this truth of a risen Saviour to a dead 
 sinner ? He hears it, but without any affections of heart, joy of 
 soul, desires to rise with Christ, or hopes of enjoying him ; but 
 when by the grace of Christ the soul is quickened to know him, it 
 rejoices in his resurrection as the best news that ever saluted his 
 ears or reached his heart ; then he delights to read the testimony of 
 (he witnesses to this glorious event; yea, he also becomes a living 
 witness of it himself, for he has an inward testimony of it by faith. 
 My heart has catched joy on seeing charity-children at Easter, with 
 this label upon their breast, he is risen. It is this blessed truth, 
 which changes the king of terrors into an angel of comfort, turns 
 that frightful monster, death, into the image of sweet sleep ; for 
 Christ died for our sin and rose again for our justification. So sure 
 as by faith we now live in Jesus, so at death we shall fall asleep in 
 Jesus and awake in his presence, in his perfect likeness, to behold 
 his eternal glory. O, what a sleep, what a refreshing sleep is this 
 to souls wearied and fatigued with the burden of sin, the temptations 
 of satan, the exercises of the flesh, the trials of the world, cruelty 
 of enemies, 8cc. But, melancholy truth! the apostle's words are 
 verified of some of Christ's witnesses in another sense ; "some are 
 fallen asleep" spiritually ; they are falling from living actings of 
 faith? lively exercises of grace, lively discharge of duty, living, 
 loving and walking with heaven in their eye and Christ in their 
 hearts, into dull, heavy, sleepy frames of soul. O, this is very 
 dishonorable to Christ, uncomfortable to themselves, and great con- 
 cern to lively, warm-hearted disciples ! This is brought on souls by 
 sitting under a sleepy ministry : this scripture adage is fulfilled, 
 *' like priest, like people." Worldly company, carnal pleasures 
 and profits are sleepy opiates to the soul. O, let us be concerned 
 that we sleep not as do others ; let us attend lively, warm-hearted, 
 soul-searching ministers; keep company with such sorts of chris- 
 tians; avoid light, trifling, drowsy, speculative professors. Let 
 \i5 cry to our beloved ; he has said, "I will cause the lips of those 
 that are asleep to speak.".... Song vii. 19. They shall speak, 1st. to 
 God in earnest prayer to be kept from sleeping frames. 2d. To 
 tiieir brethren in Christ to animate and quicken them to run the 
 heavenly race, looking unto Jesus.. ..Heb. xii. "2. 
 
 Is sleep becoming saints of God, Thou risen Saviour, 1ft us hear 
 
 In the meridian day : [abroad, Thy sweet, thy quick'ning voice : 
 
 What, sleep! when you should look Command u» sleepy frames to fear. 
 Arise, and watch and pray ? And in thy love rejoice. M, 
 
MAY 16. 139 
 
 Therefore^ behold I zvill hedge up thy xvay with thorns, and 
 make a wall that she shall not find her paths. ,.JIos. ii. 6. 
 
 Here is a contest between the free will of the sinner and 
 the FREE GRACE of the Saviour. Why therefore? This alludes 
 to what was spoken before. O, how strong it savours of cursei', 
 free-will pride! I will go after my lovers, kc. What says the 
 Lord to this ? Go, and des-troy yourself, I will leave you to your own 
 will ? O, ye patrons of the notion of free-will, a greater curse can- 
 not befall you on this side hell, than to be thus left ; though you have 
 such pride yet the Lord has more grace ; therefore he says, behold r 
 take special notice of this: your will is to leave me and destroy 
 your poor souls; but I will not suffer this : grace reigns : free-will 
 shall be conquered, my glory shall be exalted. I will hedge up 
 THY WAY WITH THORNS. Mind: it is THY way, not mine. I will 
 set the briers of troubles, and the sharp thorns of afflictions to goad 
 and pierce thee, to stop and prevent thee. Say now, is there love 
 in this, or not ? O, that in every affliction Ave may see the Lord's 
 hand of grace and his heart of love. Many a soul had been ruined 
 by pi'osperity if they had not been undone by adversity ; they would 
 have gone into the broad read of destruction had not God hedged up 
 the way by calamities : better to have a sick stomach than a guilty 
 conscience. The Lord send me any plague rather than the plague of 
 a heart departing from him, saith St. Austin. If a hedge restrain 
 not, a wall shall not be wanting. I will make a wall, that shz 
 SHALL NOT FIND HER PATHS. O, What Straying hearts have 
 Christ's sheep! O, what love of heart has Christ towards us! What 
 pains doth he take to keep us near himself. "SALVATroN will God 
 appoint for walls and bulwarks. "....Isa. xxvi. 1. Jesus shews his 
 lovely face; then says the soul, what, thou my Lord! thou best 
 thou dearest lover and friend, is it thou my first, husband I would 
 forsake for other lovers ? O, that there should be such a vile heart 
 in me ! Pardon, Lord, my folly; I find no path to turn to: " I will 
 return to thee my first husband, for then it was better with me than 
 now." Soul, ever entertain the most exalted sentiments of the grace 
 of God, and the most self-abasing views of thy own nature. Hea- 
 ven rings with acclamations of praise from backsliding souls; this 
 is the glory of faith below, I will heal their backsliding and love them 
 freely. ...Hos. xiv. 4. If God has such lore to us, let this quicken 
 our love to him ; for, " we love him, because he first loved us.".... 
 1 Joftn iv. 19. 
 
 Our Father's love, our Saviour's grace, Because such love and grace abound, 
 Ne'er changes to the souls they love : Shall we therefore abound in sin ? 
 But sin will make God hide his face, That soul who does hath never found 
 And leave in darkness souls to rove. The sirtet constraints of love within. 
 
 M. 
 
140 MAY 17. 
 
 Iflidl shall ICC iJtcn saj/ to these things'^ ....Rom. viii. 31. > 
 
 This is a most disagreeable chapter to free-will pride and self- 
 righteous spirits; for it cuts the very sinews of boasting ; it lays 
 all sinners upon a level, while it proclaims salvation by sovereign 
 grace. A great Arminian professor was lately honest enough lo 
 own that St. Paul does contend for the doctrines of election and the 
 final perseverance of the saints; but was weak enough to add, " i 
 verily believe he does it in his own spirit." Such was his ansAver to 
 these things. But when it pleases the enlightening Spirit to display 
 the glorious discoveries of the divine rriind, in his eternal purposes 
 of grace and salvation to lost and wretched sinners, the sin-convinc- 
 ed soul is struck with wonder and amazement, and cries out, " O, 
 the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God I 
 How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways are past finding 
 out !" All exceeds my comprehension ; I bow to sovereign grace ; 
 I rejoice in everlasting love : I glory in the finished salvation of the 
 Son of God. Just so, an officer In the navy whom I visited when 
 near death, when I laid before him the love of God to sinners and the 
 salvation of Christ for them, clapping his hand to his breast, in an 
 ecstacy cried out, " Where have I lived that I never heard these 
 things beibre ? Good God 1 have I got a soul !" 
 
 Come, christians, what have you to say to-night to God's loving 
 us from eternity, choosing us in Christ and blessing us with aJl spiri- 
 tual blessings in him before the foundation of the world, redeeming 
 us by Christ in the fulness of time, calling us to Christ in the day of 
 his power, pardoning our sins and justifying us by Christ in the time 
 of love, enabling our hearts to choose Christ and walk with him in 
 holiness ? What shall we say to these things? Say I with our Lord 
 in sweet submission to his sovereign Avill, even so Father, for so it 
 seemed good in thy sight ; we give thee the glory of all ; we wel- 
 come these things as the joy of our souls ; glory to thee, O Spirit, 
 for opening our blind eyes to see the glory of them and humbling 
 our proud hearts to submit to them. But what shall we say to those 
 who oppose these things ? Satan will. Resist him stedfastly in the 
 faith of them. Your carnal reason will. Beg Chrirt to bring it into 
 captivity to them. Self-righteous men will. Pity them ; treat them 
 with love, consistent with zeal for the truth. Ever remember, who 
 made you to differ ? 
 
 Base pride and wicked unbelief, My God, instead of bold replies 
 
 Reject thy truths, O Lord ! Against thy sov'reign grace ; 
 
 Hence conscience gets no sweet relief. Teach me, that here true wisdom lies, 
 Nor comfort from thy word. To bow before thy face. M. 
 
MAY 18. 141 
 
 And be found in him. ...Phil. iii. 9. 
 
 WhatI the heavenly-inspired, holy, self-denied Paul, who had 
 the richest experience of grace, manifold gifts of the Spirit, been 
 <;aught up to the third heaven, and laboured more abundanuy than 
 all the apostles, has he got no farther yet than to have no other 
 hope and desire than such a worthless sinner as I? What ! had not 
 he arrived at perfection ? Had he no inherent righteousness, no 
 graces of the Spirit, no holiness, no fruits of good works, no sincere 
 obedience, no terms and conditions he had performed to look to, 
 rely upon, and desire to be found in at the bar of God ? No ; but he 
 had got precious faith in a precious Saviour. Therefore, he looks 
 out of himself, out of all that was wrought in and done by him, he 
 pisses it all by ; he looks through it all to Jesus ; he renounces it all 
 in point of justification before God, and puts the issue of his eternal 
 life and salvation upon being found in Christ and having on his 
 inlinitcly perfect and everlastingly glorious righteousness. Beza upon 
 this place, brings in the justice of God pursuing Paul as a male- 
 factor, and Christ as a city of refuge which he desires to flee to 
 and be found in. Mr. Burkit, though not the most consistent expo- 
 sitor, yet this is one of the many excellent things which he says, 
 '•■ Christ's perfect obedience entitles us to heaven." From Paul's 
 djsire we learn, 1st. What is the sole object of a convinced sinner's 
 faith ; not what he is in himself, not any thing wrought in him or 
 done by him, but wholly and exclusively of every other matter or 
 thing, the person and righteousness of the Son of God. If you 
 have the faith of God's elect, you will rest your soul's hope only 
 upon Christ, and desire to be found in him in life, in death, and at 
 judgment. 2d. Let us beware hence that we do not slight, despise 
 and decry the graces and fruits of the Holy Spirit in us : though 
 these are not to be looked at for our justification, yet they are com- 
 fortable evidences of our being one with Christ and interested in the 
 Father's everlasting love and the salvation of Christ : they are not 
 bestowed on us to rival Christ in our hope ; but that we should 
 glory in him and exalt him in our hearts, lips and lives. 3d. 
 Though we desire to be found only in Christ, though our holy walk 
 and good works cannot justify our persons, yet they justify our faith, 
 our profession, yea, and the doctrines of grace, from the unjust 
 charge of licentiousness. O, may wc be more and more concerned 
 to obey Christ, to let our light of truth shine before men, that 
 seeing our good works they may glorify our Father who is in hea- 
 ven.... Matt. v. 16. Lastly, Paul here wishes for the experienced 
 comfort and sensible blessing of being found in Christ : this pre- 
 cious enjoyment we also should covet earnestly. 
 
14 2 MAY 19. 
 
 Bui'ldi/iij; up yourselves on your most holy faith.,. Jude^ 20. 
 
 Instead of ^oin^on comfortably in this work, many are ques- 
 tioninj^, I do not know whether I have got a most holy faith or not : 
 bring this to a point to-night. Has the ruinous fabric of nature's 
 self-confidence, sclf-ri[jhteousness, self-complacency, and self-pleas- 
 ing ever been pulled down ? Has the Spirit convinced you of sin ? 
 Do you see yourself a lost, ruined sinner ; so lost and so ruined by 
 sin that no one but the Son of God can restore and save you ? Do 
 you believe that he came to save sinners ? Is it the desire of your 
 heart to be saved from all sin by him ? If so, you as surely 
 possess a holy faith as you enjoy natural life ; and you will ^tt 
 stronger evidence and greater assurance of it, by using every blessed 
 means to prove that you have this most holy faith, while you build 
 up yourself on it. 1st. This will appear to be a holy faith, by 
 leading out your soul after a holy Saviour, to be rooted and built up 
 in him, and established in the faith of his perfect love to you and 
 finished salvation for you, abounding therein with thanksgiving.... 
 Col. ii. 7. You Avill not live a day but praise will rise in your heart 
 to the Father for his unspeakable gift of Christ; to the Son for giving 
 himself for you ; and to the Spirit for the gift of this most holy faith 
 to you. 2d. As you believe sin has made you miserable ; that it 
 causes God to hide his face ; clouds your views of the sun of righ- 
 teousness; grieves the Holy Spirit, and damps the joys of faith ; 
 you cannot, you dare not seek happiness in the pleasures of sin : 
 you will hate it, strive against it, that you may groAV in grace and 
 be built up in your most holy faith. 3d. As you believe that the 
 earth and all things that are therein, are doomed to be burnt up, 
 you cannot love the Avorld so as to set your affections on it and seek 
 your happiness in it. You hear the voice of the Lord, " my son 
 give me thy heart." When tempted by the honors, riches, and 
 pleasures of a bewitching world, you will say of all, you bid too 
 little to purchase me : I have a holy faith ; I believe that my holy 
 (iod can make me infinitely more honorable, rich, and happy, than 
 all yoirr toys and baubles. For, the Lord is my portion, saith 
 my soul : I can say so in the confidence of my most holy faith. O 
 christian, bless the day and bless the Lord when this holy faith was 
 given you. Be assured a holy heaven is prepared for you, and that 
 you shall enjoy it, so surely as if you were noAV in possession of 
 it ; " Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your 
 soul."....l Pet. i. 9. 
 
 The Lord dirfcts vliat means to use, Christ is the sure foundation laid, 
 
 To huild u;; up in holy fuith. Be careful that on him you build. 
 
 Then let us daily seek and choose, Your work shall prosper and be madt. 
 
 To f jllow af.cr what he miih. Each joy and comfort for to yield. 
 
MAY 20. 143 
 
 I go to prepare a place for you.... Jo /ni xiv. 2. 
 
 ~ If a person, destitute of the provisions of life, had a promise 
 from some noble lord, I will amply provide for you, I "will go this 
 day to court and get a place for you : if he beliered his word and 
 depended on his p)Ower, it would fill his heart with joy. Suppose 
 he actually succeeded to the most desirable place, and that it was in 
 no one's power to displace him.... what then? Why this would add 
 to his comfort: but though no one would take his place front him, 
 yet, alas! there is one who will very soon summon him to another, 
 the place appointed for all living. Ah I this gives a damp to every 
 earthly enjoyment. Off hands from all : quit your hold of all : for 
 you hold all earthly possessions by a very uncertain tenure. But, 
 hear your Lord: rejoice at his words. 1st. I go, willingly and 
 cheerfully through the most dreadful scenes of horror, agony and 
 death: I go, to face, fight with, and conquer all the powers of earth 
 and hell for you: such is my love to you, that rather than you shall 
 perish in hell for your sins, I go to suffer all the torments of pain 
 which you have deserved. Love to you willingly carries me through 
 all, makes me cheerful in all, and causes me to triumph over all, 
 .that I may enter into heaven for you. Dear Lord, let us have a 
 feeling of this thy precious love in our hearts to-night. 2d. To 
 PREPARE A place: I will not reign alone in my leather's kingdom, 
 to think no more of you, nor care no more for you; but as it is his 
 good pleasure to give you the kingdom, I will enter and take pos- 
 session of it as your forerunner; there I will plead my blood shed 
 •for you, my righteousness to justify you, and my salvation to glorify 
 you. 3d. For you. Who? What is the character of those for 
 whom Christ prepares this place? Had they never displeased their 
 Lord ? Did they never offend him ? Alas ! which of them shall we fix 
 on as a perfect character ? Peter denied him with oaths and curses : 
 all shamefully forsook him. Might they not then, forfeit their place 
 in glory ? Yes, if love did not reign and grace abound in the heart of 
 Christ over all the aboundings of sin. O, foolish thought of base 
 unbelief, that Christ should prepare a place in heaven for those who 
 might perish in hell! but see them described....verse 1. They had 
 troubled hearts about Christ and believed in him. Judge yourself 
 to-night. Do you believe in Christ? Is your heart troubled lest you 
 should lose him? Do you long for eternal enjoyment of him? Re- 
 joice, he has prepared a place for you: "Where he is, there shall you 
 be also.".... John xiv. 3. 
 
 O thou, who dost prepare a place, Prepare my soul, and make me meet, 
 
 A mansion in the sky. To see thy face above, 
 
 For sinners, thy redeemed race; That I in heaven may take my seat. 
 
 Lord, to my soul draw nigh. And praise thee for thy love. M. 
 
149 MAY 21. 
 
 / iv'dl come again and receive you wito myself, that ivhei't 
 I am, there ye may be also... John xiv. 3. 
 
 Our Lord spoke these words to disciples who had faith in him, 
 and yet had troubled hearts. Is this your case? They are suited to 
 all such ; they are to strengthen the faith and comfort the hearts of 
 disciples. O, this coming again of Christ -will be the cro^^ni^g 
 work of all I To whom ? Awful to think of I the greatest part of 
 the world believe nothing of Christ's first coming and care nothing 
 about his second coming : it will be a dreadful coming to them ; 
 " I will come again." A second coming implies a first : if Christ 
 has come in the power of his Spirit to our hearts, so that we have 
 seen his glory and believed on him, we shall look with pleasure 
 and long with joy for his coming again : this is a sure mark that 
 we shall "receive a crown of righteousness, if we love the appear- 
 ing of Christ. "....2. Tim. iv. 8. Now to your hearts by faith ; here- 
 after by sight : " I will receive you unto myself." Glory to thee, 
 my dear Lord: O, make my heart to love and thank thee more 
 and more, that vile, filthy, polluted and abominable as I am, thou 
 hast received me, washed me in thy blood, justified me in thy righ- 
 teousness, caused me to see thee, and hast given mc the privi- 
 lege of becoming a son of God. O, what a day of joy and glory 
 will that be, when our dear Lord shall receive us unto him- 
 self! That is a sweet word, full of precious mystery, " That 
 Christ might present it to himsklf, a glorious church, not having 
 spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.". ...Eph. v. 27. " For he hath 
 sanctified and cleansed us in his own blood." O, what love has Christ 
 to us! What pains does he take with us! With whaJt joy will he 
 receive us ! Never, never did the most affectionate bridegroom 
 receive his bride, or the most tender parent his beloved child from 
 the jaws of death, with that joy as Christ will receive and welcome 
 us; "that where lam, there ye may be also." O, my soul, what 
 Mords are these! enough to make my drooping spirit exult with 
 joy under all its burdens, sorrows and difficulties. Is a sense of 
 Christ's absence thy present pain? Is the sense of his presence now 
 thy greatest joy ? Then soon, very soon thou shalt be forever with 
 t)iy Lord; for so sure as Jesus spoke these words on earth, all his 
 believing members shall be with him fn glory. O then, welcome 
 pains, sickness, temptations, losses, crosses, afflictions of every 
 kind, yea, death itself, whenever and by whatever way it comes, 
 for ye arc all but only as so many love tokens from my Lord, crying. 
 
 Arise ci/ fair one, come away, 
 
 No mortal joys are wortli tliy ^lay. 
 
MAY 2C. 145 
 
 / die daily. ... 1 Cor. xv. 3 1 . 
 
 Paul in a peculiar sense could say so: he was daily in danger 
 of suffering martyrdom for Christ : he puts the most solemn oath to 
 it, "I protest by our (not your) rejoicing, Mhich I have in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord, I die daily." It is like swearing by the Koly (Ihost, 
 the author of this joy. Happy Paul ! The joy of the Lord was in 
 his heart, the prospect of enjoying his Lord in his eye, the world 
 under his feet, and he daily expecting his Lord's messenger to call 
 him home; this was living indeed, in the very suburbs of glory: 
 and pray what should hinder you and I from living as he did ? Paul 
 was the subject of the same corrupt nature, in which dwelt no good 
 thing, as we are; we ha\e the same Lord to look to and rejoice in, 
 the same faith and hope to animate us, the sainc Holy Ghost to 
 strengthen and comfort us, and the same place prepared by Christ 
 for us as he had. Why should not we also die daily ? Why should 
 not we live a dying life? All do in reality : but why should not we 
 in sweet practice, and happy experience? Plainly, we do not believe 
 enough what our Lord hath done for us, is to us, and has promised 
 to bestow on us ; therefore do not look and pray enough to our Lord. 
 My dear fellow-christians, I will be bold to enter this protest, from 
 the experience of my own soul, that we cannot live comfortably, 
 unless we die daily : as considering ourselves daily subject to the 
 stroke of death. This hour, this moment may put a period to my 
 existence. Why then all my busy cares, anxious thoughts, corrod- 
 ing fears and ardent desires after the objects of time and sense? 
 Death will soon make me quit my hold of them ; but I will be before- 
 hand with him ; I will die in heart, hope, and afTcclion to them. 
 Take, ye sons of earth, the riches honors, and pleasures of a perish- 
 ing world: grasp them in your hand; clasp them to your heart if 
 you can; but lo, instead of substance, you will find shadow ^ all 
 are but airy bubbles that will elude your hope ; I have tried them all ; 
 I die to them all ; for, I have found that above, which kills my 
 \desires, hopes and affections to all below ; I find a once crucified, now 
 risen and ascended Saviour, has got possession of my heart ; he 
 dwells there by faith ; Christ is in me the hope of glory ; the glo- 
 rious rays of my sun of righteousness extinguish all the faint light 
 of earthly glow-worms : myA.ord lives in me, that is a death to all 
 without me; death I daily fi^iliarize; I entertain him as my friend, 
 converse freely and daily with him, lodge him in my breast ; he has 
 my daily thoughts. Why ? Because my Lord introduces him to my 
 heart, not with a sting to wound and kill me, but with the voice of a 
 messenger of peace, to call me from pains and trials to peace and 
 rest, to the full enjoyment of Jesus above, who is my chief glory and 
 my life below....Col. iii. 4. 
 Voj.. n. T 
 
U5 MAY 2S. 
 
 Honor the Lord with tliy substance. ...Prov. ili. 9. 
 
 O, MAY this be the daily study of our hearts and the constant 
 practice of our lives ! " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor 
 to the Lord, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. "....Rev. xix. 7. 
 He is our husband : ^ve are espoused to him by faith. Consider the 
 v.ork of honoring the Lord and the reasons for it. 1st. The work. 
 What! Can I, a worm of the earth, honor the Lord of heaven? 
 Yes, thou art called to it, and formed for it: this honor have all his 
 saints : it is our greatest honor on earth to honor our Lord in heaven : 
 " All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless 
 thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of 
 thy power. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, 
 and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. "....Psalm cxlv. 10, 11, 12. 
 So they honored the Lord of old, in displaying the glory of his grace : 
 this work you are called to, if you have seen the glory of his king- 
 dom, felt the power of it and entered into it by faith; "Honor the 
 Lord r.'ith thy substance." Do not put such a dry, shrivelled com- 
 ment upon the word substance, as though it meant giving a trifle 
 now and then to the poor. Remember, "the liberal deviseih liberal 
 things, and by liberal things he shall stand, or be established." 
 Isa. xxxii. 8. Do not dispense shadow when the Lord requires sub- 
 stance. If thy soul is liberal, thou wilt devise liberal things. This 
 text will not only remind you of liberally dispensing of your svib- 
 stance to the poor and needy ; but also of honoring your Lord by 
 the faith of your heart, the love of your soul, placing your whole 
 affections upon him and devoting your substance, your whole spirit, 
 «oul and body unto him : you will not be content with notions with- 
 out life, form without spirit, worship Avithout the heart, religion 
 without the soul. For, 2d. Consider the reason for this. 1st. God 
 has put the highest honor upon you ; " He has called you into the 
 fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ."....! Cor. i. 9. He has blessed 
 you with ALL spiritual blessings in him....Eph. i. 3. There is not 
 one blessing God has to bestow, or Christ is possessed of, but is 
 treasured up for you in Christ, and shall be received out of the ful- 
 ness of Christ. Can you walk in the fellowship of Christ and not 
 delight to honor God with your substance ? 2d. You received all 
 this freely, therefore you ought to give freely : you are a pensioner 
 upon God, and God is as it were a petitioner to you. Can you re- 
 fuse him who speaks ? Can you withhold any thing from him by 
 whom you enjoy your all? 3d. You have but a little while to 
 honor your Lord : let the faith of this stir you up to exert all your 
 might : only call in, and congult faith and love, and act under their 
 influence to God's glory. 
 
MAV 24. J 47 
 
 From that time, many of his disciples icent back, and walk- 
 ed no more with him.... John vi. 66. 
 
 Thus was fulfilled that -word, " how can two walk together, 
 except they be agreed ?".... Amos iii. 3. This chapter is like a 
 touch-stone ; herein our Lord tries his disciples, to see who are real 
 sterling and who not ; many are his professed, but few his real dis- 
 ciples ; sifting limes will come ; they make manifest ; the hottest 
 place in hell is prepared for those who turn their backs upon the 
 Son of God on earth : Lord grant that our faces may be set like a 
 flint towards thee ; for, blessed be thy name, thou hast said of those 
 who continue with thee in thy temptations : " I appoint unto you a 
 kingdom : ye shall cat and drink at my table.".. ..Luke xxii. 29, 30. 
 But those who are not agreed with Christ, have not the mind of 
 Christ, will not walk long with him. See this exemplified. 1st. 
 " Some of these disciples followed Christ for the loaves and fishes." 
 ...John vi. 26. Those who follow Christ, to get food for theip 
 bodies and the good things of this life, instead of food for the soul, 
 will soon forsake him. Christ's blessings are spiritual, their views 
 are carnal. Such are not agreed with him. 2d. Others murmured 
 at him, because he said, " I came down from heaven. "....John vi. 4 L 
 They were ignorant of his mission from the Talher. Many people 
 hear again and again of Christ, but have no solid, scriptural judg- 
 ment of the divinity of his person and humanity of his nature, nor 
 the end and design of his coming into the world ; for want of know- 
 ledge of him, and faith in him, they soon forsake him. 3d. Others 
 could not receive his saying, " except ye eat the flesh and drink the 
 blood of the Son of man, ye have no life in you.".... John vi. 53. 
 His words were spiritual, their notions carnal : they could not see 
 how Christ could be the spiritual food of souls by faith ; so, 
 many in our day cry, where mystery begins religion ends : these 
 left following Christ. 4lh. His doctrine of his Father's sovereign 
 grace was a galling cut to the free-will pride of their self-righteous, 
 self-suflicient hearts : " No man can come unto me, except it were 
 given unto him of my Father.". ...John vi. 65. " From that speech" 
 (time is not in the original) " many of his disciples went back, 
 and walked no more with hinu" O, how many professed disciples 
 in our day, are belchiiyg out horrid speeches against the elected 
 love and efficacious grace of God tlu; Father, in drawing sinners to 
 his Son for salvation ! Poor souls, they have not the mind of Christ ; 
 they see not the special mercy of being under the efficacious influ- 
 ence of the Spirit of the Father. O discipk, let the falling way 
 of others warn thee : be strong in the Lord : be diflRdent in self : 
 Jook constantly to him, that is able to keep you from falling.. .► 
 Jude xxLv. 
 
148 MAY 25. 
 
 I laboured more abundantly than ihcy all ; yet not I, but the 
 grace of God zihich ivas icil/i me....\ Cor. xv. 10. . 
 
 Whkn one meets with journals, diaries, experiences, &c. "^'liich 
 do not exalt the riches of the grace of God, but set off the self- 
 importance of the writers of them, they are as nauseous to the mind 
 as tainted food to the palate ; they remind of the poet's observation, 
 " and I the little hero of each tale." Not so Paul, in speaking of 
 himself; no sooner had he brought this little, great I, upon the 
 stage, but he instantly clapt it under the hatches : hence this doc- 
 trine is plain ; the grace of God makes a person laI)our for God and 
 yet keeps him humble before God. Consider, 1st. To have the 
 grace of God with one, is to have a lively sense of God's free 
 favor in Christ upon one's own soul ; without this we go on heavily 
 in the ways of God, soon tire in his service, and turn back and 
 walk no more with Christ : this was the life and spring of all Paul's 
 labours. See to it then, that we wrestle with God in prayer, study 
 the precious word of his grace, and be diligent in attending his 
 ordinances, that we may ever have a lively sense of God's pardon- 
 ing, justifying, sanctifying grace in Christ upon our hearts, ever 
 cautiously avoid all persons, places and things, which tend to grieve 
 the Spirit and damp his lively influence. For, 2d. Every private 
 christian is called to labour for God, as well as apostles and ministers. 
 There is such a thing as receiving the grace of God in vain. How ? 
 When, we profess to esteem and receive the doctrines of the gospel 
 of grace, and yet they bring not forth in us correspondent fruits. 
 O, how much is this the case among professors ! How greatly to 
 be deplored and deprecated ! What ! do you profess to know God 
 and yet in works deny him ? Do you believe the love to, and salva- 
 tion of Christ for miserable sinners ? and yet can you, instead of 
 labouring for his glory, be idle, in not living and walking, studying 
 and striving to please our Saviour and profit his dear children ? 
 Have you the grace of God with you ? It is to be feared. If you 
 have, you have sadly lost its life and influence. O, be deeply 
 affected for your slate. 3d. Is the grace of God warm upon our 
 hearts? Arc we lively and active for God's glory in our lives? Do 
 wc labor more than others for Ciod ? O, let us beware we do not 
 sacrifice to ourselves, exalt our own power and faithfulness ; for 
 true grace will keep us low and humble : in the light of it we shall 
 sec how little we do for God, how much more we ought to do ; 
 and in the little we do, how much evil there is in it, and how far 
 short we come in all of his glory : " Be clothed with humility.".... 
 iPet. v. 5. 
 
 He is most blest, who labours most But after all we dare not boast, 
 In God's most holy ways; For all is done through grace. M. 
 
MAY 26. 14,9 
 
 Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the 
 Jiesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have ?io 
 life in you... John \\. 53. 
 
 Ignorant souls, ivho sit under unenlightened teachers, are 
 taught to apply these words to the sacrament: hence they think, if 
 they do but receive the sacrament, they surely eat the flesh and drink 
 tile blood of Christ, their sins are pardoned, all is well, and they shall 
 go to heaven at last. O, how horridly is that sacred ordinance prosti- 
 tiited I " The wicked, such as be void of a lively faith, do carnally and 
 visibly press with their teeth the sacrament of the body and blood of 
 Christ; yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ: but rather to 
 their condemnation, do eat and drijik the sign or sacrament of so 
 great a tiling," says St. Austin. What doth our Lord here mean ? 
 1 St. That naturally we have no spiritual life in us ; we are dead under 
 the sentence of the law ; as dead to all knowledge of, love to, and 
 delight in (iod, as a beast: we have no more likeness to God and 
 the life of God in us, than a devil has. O, this is very cutting and 
 humbling to our proud nature; flesh and blood rise with indignation 
 against it. But, 2d. What joyful news is here for us: Christ came, 
 that we sinners of the human race (not fallen angels) might have life, 
 a spiritual, holy, heavenly life, yea and have it more abundantly too..... 
 John X. 10. O, may the Spirit enlighten us to see this and quicken us 
 to go to Christ that we may enjoy it. For, 3d. This is by eating his , 
 flesh and drinking his blood ; our Lord puts his strong oath to it, that 
 in this way, and in no other, we can have it; and this fully confirms 
 that in this way we are sure to enjoy it. 4th. What is meant by eat- 
 ing Christ's flesh and drinking his blood ? Our Lord deals most 
 familiarly with us; he sends us to our tables to form proper ideas 
 of what he is to us. Just what eating and drinking natural food is 
 to the body, that Christ is to the soul: as that cannot live without 
 eating and drinking, no more can our souls without the flesh and 
 blood, the life and death of Christ, received into our hearts by faith : 
 thus we enjoy the life of God in our souls. But, 5th. Here is a 
 precious word: "The Son of man." Faith must fasten upon that : 
 it is feeding upon the humanity of Christ that brings us to enjoy 
 the divine life ; we come to God through the flesh of Christ; we 
 feed on the flesh and blood of the Son of man, and so become one 
 flesh with him; "we are flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone.".... 
 Eph. v. 30. W'e are incorporated into him ; and, O joyful, are 
 presented tg the Father without spot or wrinkle in HiM....Eph. y. 27. 
 
ijO MAY 2r. 
 
 Jji/ I in) ivords thou shall be justified y and by iJit/ words ihoit 
 siuiU be condemned.. ..Malt. xii. 37. 
 
 Who then can be saved? Is not this legal doctrine? Does it 
 not contradict that fundamental doctrine of the gospel, justification 
 by f.ulh, in the righteousness of Christ only ? No; no more than 
 St. James, in maintaining justification by works, contradicts St. 
 Paul, who insists upon justification by faith: they are easy to be 
 reconciled ; so are tliese words to justification by grace. Surely our 
 Lord never meant to contradict his own words, "he that bclieveth 
 on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con- 
 demnation, but is passed from death unto life." He cannot mean to 
 overthrow our faith, dibtress our souls, and cause us to rest our final 
 justification at the last day, upon either our Avords or our Morks ; 
 if so, woe unto the most perfect ; it had been better for that man 
 he had never been born, for eternal condemnation must be his 
 doom: but justification by faith in Christ is ever to be held fast in 
 the conscience as the everlasting truth of an unchangeable God, the 
 foundation of hope, the source of peace, an inexhaustible fountain 
 of joy, and the spring of holiness. But what means our Lord? 
 O, may he give us to understand. In the preceding verse, he says» 
 '■for every idle word men shall speak, they shall give account 
 thereof." The most learned translate it, malicious or wicked words. 
 Now our Lord, just before, treats of " speaking a word against the 
 Son of man. "....verse 32. Therefore, for these malicious words, 
 resulting from their unbelief and rejection of Christ, men shall be 
 condemned : the words of the lips proclaim the disposition of the 
 heart : as words condemn Christ, so for such words they shall be 
 condemned by Christ : so by thy words approving of, and confess- 
 ing Christ's blood to be the one atonement for sin, and his obedience 
 the ONE righteousness to justify sinners, thou shalt be justified; 
 *'forvs'ith the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the 
 mouth confession is made unto salvation. "....Rom. x. 10. Thus 
 the fate of every soul at the last day, will be determined by his faith 
 in Christ or his unbelief of him, declared by his words ; they will 
 be called in as evidences of faith unto eternal life, or of unbelief 
 unto eternal death; they will justify our failn, or condemn ouf 
 unbelief. By our words we understand the general tenor of our 
 conversation. Paul speaks of a conversation becoming the gospel.... 
 Phil. i. 27. Peter of a good conversation in Christ.... 1 Pet. iii. 16. 
 Without this, O disciple, what evidence have you that you have 
 the faith of God's elect now, or shall be finally justified at the last 
 day ? " Without liolincss, no man shall see the Lord."....Heb.. 
 xii. 1 1. 
 
MAY 38. 131 
 
 From the rising of the sun, unto the going dorcn of the same, 
 the Lord's name is to be praised. ...Psalm cxiii. 3. 
 
 Praise is the incessant employ of glorified saints in heaven : 
 there they fully see and eternally sing of the electing, redeeming, 
 sanctifying, glorifying love of the blessed trinity. May oiir souls 
 catch some of the heavenly flame of love, and imitate them in our 
 praise to-night ; this is the work, of an humble heart : pride is th« 
 parent of murmuring and discontent. A sense of the blessings of 
 the Lord and a sight of the unworthiness of them, excite praises in 
 the heart : this is the language of a praising soul, why me, Lord ? 
 Why am I singled out from the ruins of a fallen race, to partake 
 of thy special grace, peculiar love, and precious salvation ? Am I 
 better than others ? Have I done more to deserve thy mercies than 
 others ? Have I a greater right to challenge thy favor than others ? 
 O Lord, why me ? Thus, while the soul sinks in humility it risss 
 in praise. David describes saints, with the " highest praises of 
 God in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand. "....Psalm 
 cxlix. 6. What for ? To execute vengeance upon their heathen 
 notions, of sacrificing any praise to themselves, or ascribing any 
 thing to their own deserts : these are special marks of a regenerate 
 person. 1st. His heart is formed for, and his soul delights to 
 praise the Lord at all times : for he s.;cs himself infinitely and en- 
 tirely indebted to the grace of God, for all he is, all he enjoys, and 
 all he hopes for. 2d. It is his grief that he cannot praise the 
 Lord as he v/ould without intermisson, " from the rising of the sun 
 to the going down of the same :" for worthy is the Lord of un- 
 ceasing praise. His mercies are renewed every morning, continued 
 unto evening, and repeated in the night-season. But here is a 
 precious word in this Psalm that endears the Lord to us, and excites 
 praise from us : " Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth 
 on high?" Who HUMBLETH himself.. ..pause, O my soul, at that 
 astonishing word : how did the most high God humble himself? 
 To the most low and abject state ; made himself of no reputation, 
 took on him the form of a servant, a mean mun : yea more, became 
 obedient to the most ignominious death, even the cursed death of 
 the cross.... Phil. ii. 8. O, my soul, though vile in thine own eyes, 
 though of no repute in the world, consider this : thou canst never 
 want an inexhaustible fund of comfort, and a never-failing source 
 for praise. "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within 
 me bless his holy name."....Psalm ciii. 1. 
 
 Each risen sun that I behnld, The shades of each revolving night. 
 
 Calls for my daily praise: Proclaim thy grace to me ; 
 
 Thy mercies, Lord, can ne'er be told: O joyful hope ! O prospect bright ! 
 How rich I how free thy gracp ! In heav'u I shall praiso thee. M, 
 
152 iVIAY 29. 
 
 Come, hmj xcine and milk, without money and without price 
 ....ha. Iv. 1. 
 
 A FREE gospel is the glory of God's grace, the joy of humble 
 souls, the envy of malicious devils, and the contempt of proud, 
 self-righteous pharisees. Milk is the pure, sweet, soul-nourishing 
 doctrines of the gospel of Christ. Winf. is the generous, heart- 
 reviving: comforts, of pardon of sins and peace with God through 
 the blood of Christ : the Lord knows we cannot grow strong, not 
 be comfortable in our souls, without this precious milk and ani- 
 mating M'ine. Here is the Lord's open house, public market, free 
 invitation and fixed price. Comk, draw nigh to me; keep not 
 at a distance from me, saith the Lord ; make no excuse, nor any 
 'delay ; come now this moment : here is a free invitation and a 
 hearty welcome. O, the love of our Lord's heart! Buy. Ait 
 thou rich ? Such the Lord sends empty away. Hast thou brought 
 a stock of thine own faithfulness, terms thou hast fulfilled, and 
 conditions performed to buy with ? Then instead of wine and milk 
 thou wilt receive a scourge from the Lord. Remember, those wlio 
 bought he whipt out of his temple. (), saith the poor self-emptied, 
 soul-humbled sinner, this word buy puts me to a stand: I am poor 
 and pennyless ; I have nothing to bring but misery and poverty ; I 
 am perishing for want of comfort. Thou art the very person in- 
 vited : the Lord filleth the hungry with good things. O, precious 
 word of marvellous grace! Buy. ...without money and without 
 PRICE or money's worth. What ! have I been five, ten, twenty 
 years or upwards in Christ, and have I got no inherent stock of 
 grace, no more worth or value to buy with than I had when I first 
 came to him as a poor, naked and perishing sinner? Must I come 
 as at first, poor and pennyless ? Yes : or not at all. The Lord 
 knows v/hat thou art ; he invites thee just as thou art ; his price 
 just suits thy abject poverty. What an affront would it be to a 
 dear friend to bring a price in our hands for a rich entertainment, 
 vith a free invitation? No affectionate mother more freely adminis- 
 ters the breast of nourishment to her hunting infant, than the Lord 
 his milk and wine to thirsty souls. Faith works by the love of this: 
 it operates upon the heart, so as to produce sincere love to (lod and 
 cliecrful obedience to his word and will: but base unbelief, with a 
 bastard humility, raises jealousies and suspicions of the Lord's lich 
 love and free grace. One says, it cannot be for me, I am too vile ; 
 another, I am unworthy of it. Christ says, " whosoever will, let 
 him come.".... Rev. xxii. 17. 
 
 1 thank thee, Lord, who fixtthy price, No works, no worthiness have I, 
 Exactly suited to my case: To bring before my Lord to plead. 
 
 Tho* poor and vile in my own eyes, But still thou sayest, come and buy : 
 I'm fiecly welcome lo thy grace. Thy grace, my Lord, is free indeed- 
 
MAY 30. 153 
 
 Jnd confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the 
 earth....Heh. xi. 13. 
 
 O YE worldly-minded professors, can ye read this without being 
 ashamed and reproved? What will bring a man to this confession? 
 Will sickness and a near approach to death? O no: men return 
 from the most dangerous illness to greater love of the world and 
 more ardent pursuit after the things of it. Look at a dying world- 
 ling ; see him, like a drowning man, clenching the faster what he 
 has grasped for his hope and help. Men not only live fools but die 
 fools too: their senses beguile them; their reason befools ihem ; 
 they reject the plainest truths before them. Nothing will kill the 
 love of a bewitching world, in a deceitful heart, but the view of 
 heaven by faith: no man will confess himself a stranger to the world 
 and a pilgrim on the earth, until he sees himself " a fellow-citizen 
 with the saints and of the household of God."....Epli. ii. 19. As 
 \ve say, we will not quit u certainty for an uncertainty : admire these 
 ancient heroes of faith : view and imitate their conduct. What 
 caused this confession? 1st. They had not received the promises: 
 the Messiah was not then come from heaven with all the inestimable 
 blessings of his kingdom; yet they believed in him, looked to him, 
 and lived by faith upon him as promised to come. For, 2d. Though 
 they saw the precious promises afar off, yet they were realized to 
 their hearts by faith : the distance of them did not weaken their 
 confidence in the existence of them: faith brought them nigh to 
 their minds. For, Sd. they were persuaded of them and embraced 
 them; they hugged and kissed the promises of God as the chief 
 delight and greatest joy of their souls. Carnal men cry, O faith 
 is to do all for you! No, not so: Christ has done all for us: by faith 
 we enjoy all the comfort of it : hence wc commence followers of 
 Christ: "strangers and pilgrims on the earth," and travellers to our 
 Father's kingdom. Have you had no respect paid by carnal men ? 
 Do they see nothing about you to laugh at and deride you for? No: 
 then you have great reason to question whether you are a real fol- 
 lower of a despised, crucified Lord ; the world will love its own« 
 Are you striving to keep God and the world ? Of all men upon 
 earth you are most to be pitied, for you will be most miserable : 
 most joyful to say, I am " a stranger and a sojourner as all my 
 fathers were."....P3alm xxxix. 12. 
 
 My heart, my hope, my portion is Men think me strange that I can't join 
 
 In Christ my Lord above : With them to take my part, 
 
 I wander here, and find no bliss. In carnal joys, in mirth and wine j 
 
 That'"s worthy of my love. But, Loid, thou hast my heart. M. 
 
 Vol. II, U 
 
m MAY 31. 
 
 God be merciful to me a sinner.... Luke xviii. J 3. 
 
 I onEN think, -what a perfectionist said to me, upwards of 
 twenty years ago: " Do not goto hear such preaching, you will get 
 such a notion of sinnership as though you are to be a poor sinner 
 all your days." Truly, after being so long in Christ, when I look 
 into the glass of God's law, I see myself just the same poor sinner 
 I was at first, striving against sin and looking to Christ for salva- 
 tion. I thank my Lord, I do not trust in myself that I am righte- 
 ous ; yet am as righteous in myself as any poor sinner on earth is, 
 and as righteous in Christ as any saint in glory is. O, the humbling 
 joy of faith! It brings boldness of access to God into the heart 
 while it kills self-righteous confidence. Many poor souls are apt to 
 say, I am afraid to approach God, I am such a sinner; I tremble 
 to think what will become of ine ; I fear God will cast me off for- 
 ever, and damn me eternally for my sins. No, saith the Lord, 
 " my thoughts are not as your thoughts. Return unto the Lord, 
 and he will have mercy upon you; and to our God for he will abun- 
 dantly pardon.".. ..Isa. Iv. 7, 8. But what plea have I to make? As 
 good an one as the best saint upon earth has: he is not a saint in 
 Christ who dares make any other. Here it is: your Lord puts it 
 into your mouth, and assures you that it is most prevailing before 
 the throne of God: God be mkrcifulto mk a sinnek. But, 
 •am I to bring no works, no faith? No: your faith brings you ; faith 
 leaves all works behind, it relies on God's gracious promises, it 
 pleads God's rich mercy in Christ to poor, perishing sinners. Thus 
 seek mercy: thus beseech God to be propitious to you. But must 
 1 not bring repentance? You cannot come without, if you have 
 fi\ith : repentance flows from faith ; is a change of mind concerning 
 the object of bope for salvation; and a change of conduct towards 
 that object. A cry for mercy to God in Christ, as miserable 
 sinners, is the laaguage of true repentance- But am I to live in sin 
 and walk in sin, and yet cry, God be merciful to me a sinner? You 
 cannot, if this cry comes from your heart, affected with the evil of 
 sin ; 1K> more than you can cry to be delivered from devouring 
 flames, and yet cojitentedly cont'mue in the midst of them : but 
 when we cast in our minds for a plea, we have the most blessed 
 one, the full atonement and perfect righteousness of Jesus ; there- 
 fore there is never any room for despair; "let us come boldly unto 
 the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to 
 lielp in time of nced."....lleb. iv. 18. 
 
 I daily live by mercy free, Then let me take the lowest place. 
 
 To me a sinner shew'd ; Of deep humility, 
 
 I've nought to claim from God to me, And if 1 ever see Christ's face, 
 We gxsti, because he's good. There's nothing due to me. M. 
 
JUNE I. 15S 
 
 But now in Christ Jesus, ye ivho were sometimes afar ojfy 
 are made nigh by the btood of Christ. ...EpJws. ii. 13. 
 
 If one was asked, do you live near the court ? Have you free 
 access to his majesty ? Did you ever kiss the king's hand ? Who 
 •would hesitate one moment for an answer ? Consciousness would 
 instantly dictate one. Pray, is christian experience so dark and 
 doubtful a matter, that if asked, are you brought nigh to God ? 
 Do you live near God ? Have you free access to God ? That we 
 cannot answer with some degree of knowledge and certainty ? O, 
 my dear fellow-ciiristians, though we arc brought nigh to God, yet 
 we do not live near him : hence our doubt and uncertainty : our 
 hearts and affections get roving in the high roads of earthly honor, 
 riches or pleasures : here clouds of dust arise ; they so dim our 
 sight and cloud our views, that Ave can hardly see our way or tell 
 where we arc. Here we are reminded, 1st. That we " were some- 
 times afar off." Awful distance I As far as possible from Ciod, 
 because so far from original righteousness ; as far off from God as 
 a devil. Naturally, no more desire to draw nigh to him: nay, 
 satan had possession of us, ruled in, and reigned over us : we loved 
 our master, hated our God, and delighted at our distance from him. 
 O, be covered with shame, be clothed with humility, yet lift up 
 your head with joy. For, 2d. We are brought nigh to Ciod. (>> 
 says one, I wish I was sure of this. It is true in the word, thai 
 sinners are brought nigh to (iod : you can only know this for your- 
 self by experience. Therefore consider, 3d. How we are brought 
 nigh : by the blood of Christ : by faith in him we are reconciled to 
 God, justified before God, and at peace with God. If you are 
 brought nigh to God, 1st. Christ is precious to yon ; yo>ir heart is 
 towards him ; your hope is fixed on him. 2d. His blood is highly 
 prized by you : you look to his atonenu-nt for the pardon of your 
 sins, to cleanse your conscience from guilt, aiwi to bring peace ta 
 your soul. 3d. By him you delight to draw nigh to- Gad, making 
 his blood and righteousness your only plea for salvation. And, 4th. 
 You will live near to God in love and walk before him in holiness i 
 you will hate the things you once loved, and love the things you 
 once hated ; in this way only you can enjoy fellovvskip and peace 
 with God, comfort from God, and assurance that you are a child of 
 (;od. Says Christ, " If ye love me, keep my conmiandments, and 
 the comforter sliall abide with you for ever.".. .. John xiv. 15, 16. 
 
 Brought nigh to God by Jesu's blood, Live near to Christ, and daily prore, 
 
 Poor sinners here*s good news! Your fellowship divine, 
 
 O, bless your dear redeeming God, Abide in his most precious love, 
 
 And on him ever muse. Till you in glory shine. M:. 
 
156 JUNE 2. 
 
 As for we I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save 
 me. ...Psalm Iv. 16. 
 
 I HAVE been often struck with the conduct of blind Bartimeus: 
 when " many chart^ed him to hold his peace, he crk-d tht move a 
 great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me."....Mark x. 48, 
 Why was this? Truly he had a feeling- sense of his loss of sight, 
 and by faith he saw Jesus able to restore it : see the consequence of 
 this importonate cry. Did the sun stand still at the word of Joshua ? 
 Behold, at the cry of Bartimeus, the Lord and Creator of all the 
 host of heaven, stood still, Jesus knows the cry of his own Spirit; 
 he will hear it, and help the soul who utters it : " His cars are open 
 to our prayers."....! Pet. iii. 12. Look, 1st. At David's circum- 
 stances : was he now on the mount of joy, basking in the sun, 
 beams of comfort ? No ; he is si^hin?^ out a doleful comphiiiit in 
 the vale of distress : says he, " I mourn because of the voice of 
 the enemy and the oppressions of the wicked ; my heart is sore 
 pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me ; 
 fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath 
 overwhelmed me. "....Psalm Iv. 3, Sec. 2d, Vv'hat is his resolution? 
 Does he give up hope in his God ? Does he flee his presence and 
 seek for comfort in the world, from its vain pleasure, sensual de- 
 lights, and from the men of it ? No ; but says he, " I will call upon 
 God." Here is a lesson of instruction for us : the more fears, 
 terrors, pains, and oppressions beset us, they should excite more 
 calls upon God from us : seek to no object to be eased from them, 
 but God : remember, not one of them but is by his appointment 
 or permission ; they are calls from God to call upon him : when 
 they bring us to God, his loving wmII is answei'ed ; he will not 
 suffer his dear people to live at a distance from him without calling 
 upon him ; he loves their souls ; he delights in their prayers ; and 
 the " Lord's comforts delight their souls."„.,PsaIm xciv, 19, Can 
 you say so ? Then, 3d. You may confidently take up David's con* 
 elusion ; " The Lord shall save me." Is not this too bold ? Yes, 
 If founded upon any thing in yourself as the cause why God should 
 save you, it is daring presumption ; but, from the Lord's absolute 
 declarations, full and free promises given us in Christ, we are di- 
 vinely warranted thus to conclude. O, then take and prize the 
 Lord's word as your blessed charter of salvation ; plead it before 
 him; expect all salvation from him, even victory overall sin, de- 
 liverance from every trouble, the comfort of holiness here, and the 
 joys of glory in eternity : " All are yours, and yc arc Christ's aod 
 Christ is God's."..,.! Cor. iii. 23. 
 
 }-Iow bold is f.iith, to challenge thus O, 'tis because the Lord claims ns, 
 A claim upon the Lord; His portion, in his word. M. 
 
JUNE S. 157 
 
 To them who have obtained like precious faith with lis 
 through (in) Hie righteousness of God, and (even) our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ.... 2 Pet. i. 1. 
 
 There may be strong failh where there is no true faith: per- 
 sons may pretend to have the assurance of faith, may believe that 
 their sins are forgiven, without one grain of precious failh. Who 
 believes more than a deist does ? he believes he has wisdom to guide 
 and power to save himself, without cither the word or the grace of 
 God. Who has stronger faith than the self-righteous Pharisee had I 
 He believed he had a right to go to God, to plead his works before 
 God, and to assure his heart that he was accepted of God : lie 
 wanted no righteousness from God. This is just such a faith, which 
 all unregcnerate men have. It is not a prkcious faith; it is not 
 obtained through the precious righteousness of Christ ; it doth not 
 make his glorious person and everlasting righteousness precious to 
 the heart ; it does not cause such to renounce the filthy rags of their 
 own righteousness, and to Jelight in God, as justifying the unholy 
 through the righteousness of Christ, and sanctifying the ungodly 
 through the Spirit of his grace. That faith is ever to be suspected, 
 as only a rank weed which grows in the corrupt soil of human nature, 
 if the possessors of it see not the evil of sin Avhich is in them, the 
 curse it has brought upon them, and that nothing can relieve their 
 conscience, support their mind, bring hope to their heart and joy to 
 their spirits, but the one spotless righteousness of Christ, in which 
 sinners stand perfectly justified before God. He who dares open his 
 mouth in objections against Gods imputing the righteousness of his 
 Son freely to sinners, and fully justifying the.M thereby, is shrewdly 
 to be suspected, that so far from having obtained " like precious 
 faith" with the apostles, his heart is not yet convinced of sin. Pre- 
 cious faith will shew itself by its fruits, inward as well as outward: 
 the heart will bow to God's sovereign will, receive his doctrines of 
 grace, in the love of them, and not carp and cavil against them ; it 
 will glory that salvation from first to last, is not of works, but of 
 grace ; and it will experience, that the grace of God which bringetU 
 salvation, most sweetly and powerfully teaches, to deny all ungodli- 
 ness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in 
 this present evil world. Most sweetly says one, " Surely, there can 
 be no greater honor to Christ than this, in the sense of sin, wants, 
 stains and blemishes, to wrap ourselves in the righteousness of Christ, 
 and with boldness to go, clothed in the garments of this our elder 
 brother, to the throne of grace." This is the glory of faith, Lord 
 grant it may be ourst ** 
 
138 JUNE 4. 
 
 Lord he merciful unto mc: heal wy soul ; for I have sinned 
 against thee. ...Psalm xl'i. 4. 
 
 Is this the language of a saint ? Was David a saint when he 
 uttered it? Yes he was a holy man of God: this confession and 
 prayer shew it: his heart was not hardened through the deceitfulness 
 of sin, nor blinded by self-righteous pride, so as to say, "I have no 
 sin." Self-righteous hearts cannot away with this, that all the 
 Lord's saints are yet in themselves miserable sinners ; that they see 
 daily need to confess this, and to sue for mercy and healing from the 
 Lord: here is a confession, a plea, and a prayer. 1st. A confes- 
 sion, " 1 have sinned against thee :" thus we must come and confess 
 to the Lord to-day, to-morrow, and every day, till the sun of life 
 sets. Sense of sin, whether fresh contracted or long since com- 
 mitted, abides with us ; it wounds and pains a gracious soul. Here 
 grace discovers itself: that soul waits not for time to efi'ace the 
 memory of sin, or strives to stifle convictions for it, but goes hum- 
 bly to the Lord, and confesses it, with all its aggravations, and 
 with this above all others. Lord, " against thee I have sinned." 
 O, may my soul never, never lose this conviction, that every sin is 
 against thee, my Lord and loving Father ; thee, my Lord and pre- 
 cious Redeemer; thee, my Lord and gracious comforter: this 
 makes sin exceeding sinful, while it magnifies the super-abound- 
 ing riches of grace, in receiving sinnerS; and in pardoning sin. 
 2d. Consider the plea: it is not the pharisee's parade ; Lord, I have 
 done this and that, or I have not done so and so: Lord, I have been 
 faithful to thy grace, I am not so bad as others : No ! but it is the 
 publican's plea ; "Lord be merciful to me," to me a vile sinner, who 
 have done nothing to deserve thy favor, yet plead thy mercy pro- 
 mised to sinners in Christ Jesus : thou canst be just, and yet justify 
 the ungodly who believe in Jesivs. Therefore, Sd. I pray, "heal 
 my soul." No prayers, no tears, no duties, no terms and condi- 
 tions of mine can heal my soul ; no, my best works are stained with 
 pollution, my holiest duties are mixed with sin : nothing but the 
 blood of THE Lamb can bring pardon to my heart, peace to my 
 conscience, and healing to my soul. " The Lord will speak peace 
 unto his people and his saints.".. ..Psalm Ixxxv. 8. Tor, C) precious 
 wordsl he assures us, "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall 
 be forgiven unto men.".. ..Matt. xii. 3L 
 
 Though sin doth so distress, my soul, No plea have I, thou Lamb of God, 
 With sickness and with pain : For mercy, but through thee ; 
 
 My God will heal and make me whole, Cleansing and healing by thy blood. 
 And give me peace agJMi. To sinners come most free. M. 
 
JUNE 5. 159 
 
 Light is soitnfor the righteous, and gladness for the up- 
 right in heart. ...Psalm xcvii. 1 1. 
 
 Hk who never doubts his sincerity to God has great reason to 
 suspect his knowledge of himself: an hypocrite cannot be a chris- 
 tian ; yet there is hypocrisy in the fallen nature of every christian: 
 such are ever suspecting themselves. At times they fear, lest they 
 should turn out nothing but hypocrites at last: this is a proof that 
 their hearts are upright with Christ: their fears and suspicions arc 
 a blessed means of keeping them from falling away from him. 
 Righteous souls pass through many dark frames and disagreeable 
 experiences : sometimes they are put to a stand, ready to question 
 if all is right within or not ; for they are the subjects of a nature in 
 which dwells every evil, which wars against God, the peace, holiness 
 and comfort of their souls: hence they are sometimes in seasons of 
 darkness; they sec not things in the light of truth; they enjoy not 
 the comfort of this truth; that they are " righteous in the righteous- 
 ness of Christ,".. .,2 Cor. V. 21. ...and made upright by his grace. 
 Upright souls mourn in darkness and desire ever to walk in the light: 
 yes, says St. Peter, ye " greatly rejoice in the salvation of Jesus, 
 though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through 
 manifold temptations." If need be ! O, what need can there be? 
 He tells us, that the trial of your precious faith might be found unto 
 praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.... 1 Pet. 
 i. 6, 7. Tried faith is true faith. Touch any metal but gold, and 
 acjua fortis will burn it off. True faith stands the fire of temptations ; 
 .trusts Christ in heaviness; stays upon him in darkness; for at all 
 times, in all seasons, under all circumstances, light and gladness 
 are sown for you, and in due season shall spring up in you. Where 
 are they sown? Where every covenant blessing is reaped; in Jesus 
 the surety of the covenant....Heb. vii. 22. All natural light is in, 
 and flows from the sun : all spiritual light flows from Christ, the sun 
 of righteousness, who saith, " I am the light of the world : he 
 that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
 light of life.".. ..John viii. 12. Is light sown in Christ for us? Let 
 us with David claim in faith, " the Lord is my light, and my salva- 
 tion.".... Psalm xxvii. 1 . Does gladness of heart spring from Christ ? 
 Then say, "my meditation of him shall be sweet, I will be glad in 
 the Lord. "....Psalm civ. 34. Thus faith is tried and proved in the 
 darkest hour: thus it manifests itself to be the faith of God's elect ; 
 for it cleaves to God's elect, (Jesus) in whom God's soul dclighteth.... 
 Isa. xlii. 1. 
 
 Both light and gladness inGod's word, And shall springupwithirithosehearts, 
 For righteous souls are sown, Who huve the Saviour known. M. 
 
160 JUKE 6. 
 
 There is a way zvhich seemeth right unto a man, but the 
 end thereof^ are the xeays of death..., Prov. xiv. 12. 
 
 This is a melancholy truth, "all flesh has corrupted his way 
 tipon the earth. "....Gen. vi. 12. From sad experience of this, Jere- 
 miah confesses, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in 
 himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."... .Jer. 
 X. 23. " All we like sheep have gone astray : we have turned every- 
 one his own way," says Isa. liii. 6. O, it is a most blessed thing; 
 to be convinced of this, and humbly pray with David, " see if there 
 be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 
 ....Psalm cxxxix. 24. We can never enough call to mind, love 
 and praise our good shepherd, who came to seek and save us 
 from our own way, which seemeth right in our eyes. What way 
 is this? A most dangerous one: it is the way of wickedness, in 
 which we have strong confidence of our own righteousness. Every 
 man is naturally in this way. The most openly prophane as well as 
 the decent pharisee, possesses some hope in himself that he has 
 done, or can do something to save himself, and that his way is right 
 and shall end well at the last. The worst of men must think at 
 times. If destitute of all hope, black despair must ensue. A 
 false hope, built upon self-righteousness, keeps up their spirits. 
 How long ? Till they go down to hell with a lie in their right hand : 
 or till the Spirit of God convinces them of sin, shews them their 
 condemnation for sin, and that they are destitute of righteous- 
 ness ; that nothing short of an absolute, perfect one, can justify 
 them before God ; and that this is only to be found in the Son of 
 God. Now, every way leads to some end : the way that seems right 
 in a man's own eyes will end in death ; in the death of hope, and 
 destruction of the souk The man who is in this way that seemeth 
 right unto hin», is ever exalting his own righteousness and decrying 
 the imputed righteousness of Christ. Stop, O soul, and consider, 
 what way art thou in? That which seems right in thy own sight, or 
 tliat which God declares is right in his ? Remember, the way of a 
 self-righteous foul is right in his own eyes : but he that hearkeneth 
 vuuo counstl is v.ise."....Prov. xii. 15. Jesus is our counsellor: 
 hearken to him: he says, "I am the way.".. ..John xiv. 6. The 
 only way, exclusive of every other way, of pardon from God, peace 
 and acceptance with God, justification before God, and enjoyment 
 of God: this is the good old way; walk therein, and ye shall find 
 rest for your souls....Jer. vi. 1 6. 
 
 O Christ, who art the only way There's many ways that lead to death, 
 
 Unto eternal life, Which foolish men pursue, 
 
 Preserve and keep my soul each day, Lord, keep me in the way of faith. 
 
 From unbelieving strife. The only way and true. M» 
 
JUNE 7. 161 
 
 But that on the good ground, arc they, zchich in an honest 
 arid good heart, having heard the ivord keep it, and bring 
 forth fruit ivith patience.... Luke viii. 15. 
 
 Disciple, tread warily on this good ground : speak cautiously 
 about it, lest thy soul be lifted up, and thou shouldest say, I made 
 myself to differ; my nature is better to receive the seed, and my 
 heart more honest and good to retain it, than others. Know thyself 
 by nature upon a level with way-side, stony-ground, and thorny 
 hearers. See what is predicted of these blessed hearers. Examine, 
 if we are of the happy number: if so, let us fall down in humility 
 and cry, what hath God wrought ! Let us give all the glory to the 
 God of all grace I 1st. "That on good ground." It is made good 
 by the labour of the husbandman: tilled, cultivated, and made fit to 
 receive the seed, by the grace of the Spirit, in an honest and good 
 heart. No man has such a heart naturally: the heart is deceitful 
 above all things and desperately wicked ; see the cursed weeds it 
 brings forth : "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
 adulteries," &c....Mark vii. 2 1. Such an old, wicked heart as this, 
 can neither receive nor retain the seed of the kingdom, so as to 
 bring forth fruit unto perfection. New wine of gospel grace and 
 love must be put into new bottles: therefore, saith the Lord, " a 
 new heart will I give you."....Ezek. xxxvi. 26. Precious promise ! 
 This is that good and honest heart. Hath the Lord given it thee? 
 If so, 2d. you Mill hear the word and keep it. It takes root down- 
 ward. Thou hast and dost retain an abiding sense of thy own vile- 
 ness, poverty and wretchedness: thou wilt be rooted and grounded 
 in the love of Christ, knowing that in him thou art rich, righteous, 
 and happy. As the word made thee thus wise and happy, thou 
 wilt keep it, ponder it in thine heart, meditate upon it day and night: 
 it will be dear and precious to thy soul. This is an evidence of a 
 good and honest heart: it delights in the good news of the Mord of 
 grace, the faithful promises of a covenant God in Christ Jesus. 3d. 
 Such bring forth fruit with patience; because they keep the word 
 in their hearts, they go on patient in well-doing, and patient in suf- 
 fering the will of God. Says David, " thy word have I hid in my 
 heart." To what end? " That I might not sin against thee.".... 
 Psalm cxix. 11. Says Paul, "the word of the truth of the gospel 
 bringeth forth fruit in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew 
 the grace of God in truth.". ...Col. i. 5, 6. That soul in whose heart 
 the word of grace takes the deepest root, brings forth most fruit to 
 God. O soul, wouldst thou be more holy and more happy? Keep 
 the word of God: study it: that directs thee to Christ, in whom 
 all thy happiness centers, and from whom all thy holiness springs. 
 Vol. IT. W 
 
I6i JUNE 8. 
 
 {■w/o him Ihal loved us, andicashed us from our sins in his 
 own blood. ...Rt'v. i. 5. 
 
 "Paul denounces the most dicadful curse upon every one who 
 loves not the Lord Jesus Christ.".... I Cor. xvi. 22. Why does any 
 binner love Christ ? Because he belieTcs the love of Christ to sin- 
 ners. See the awful curses of unbelief: it rejects the love of Christ ; 
 it sets at nought his salvation ; it seals the sinner under the curse of 
 his sins, the wrath diie to his sins; and binds him over to eternal 
 damnation for his sins. But the unawakened sinner smiles at all 
 this ; for he does not believe one word of it. Lord, leave r,ot my 
 soul under this sin of sins, of all sins the most heinous and cursed: 
 
 help my unbelief! 1st. See the preciousness of faith: it works 
 by love, even by the love of Christ manifested to us; it receives and 
 takes home his love to the heart ; there it works peace in the con- 
 science, delight in God, access to God, boldness before God, joy 
 in God, fellowship with God, conformity to God, and longinjj for 
 eternal enjoyment of God. For, 2d. Our sins, which are the cause 
 of separation and distance from God, and shyness of God, are 
 washed away. JIow ? By Christ's own blood. O, wonderful to 
 think! O, joyfid to believe! The holy Son of God has washed us.... 
 us unholy, us ungodly, us hell-deserving sinners, from our sins in 
 bis own blood: he hath done it: this precious, this mighty work 
 is forever finished: Christ hath once appeared, for ever to put away 
 our sins by the sacrifice of himself.. ..lleb. ix. 26. What says 
 his Father of him? " In my beloved Son, I am well pleased.".... 
 Matt. iii. \7. What saith he of us? "Your sins and iniquities will 
 
 1 lenieniber no more."....Heb. x. 17. What say you? Is all this 
 true ? Is all this a fact, or a fable ? Upon our belief of tliis depends 
 our comfort and holiness: and from the faith of this springs glory 
 to Ciod in the highest. For, 3d. If we firmly believe this, we shall 
 joyfully join the redeemed in earth and heaven, in giving praise and 
 glory to Christ for washing us from our sins in his own blood. But 
 you say, I have sin in me, I mourn over it, and groan under it : 
 that, is sense : this sei>se is needful to keep you humble before 
 Christ : yet faith is above sense ; it glorifies Christ for washing 
 away fmm before Ciod's sight the very sins you feel. You have 
 the sense of fear that you shall be damned for your sins: that is a 
 holy fear : that keeps you from sinning. But, iaith says, " there 
 is no condemnation to me, I am in Christ Jesus.",...Rom. viii. 1. 
 My sins arc all washed away : I am perfectly cleansed from them 
 all ; and my Lord says, " thou art all fair my love, there is no spot 
 in thee.".. .. Song iv. 7. 
 
 Before we siiui'd Christ loved us, Believe bis love displayed thus. 
 
 And when we fell his blood he spilt, To wabh and clcun*c us from all guilt- 
 
JUNE 9. 163 
 
 And hath made its kings and priests unto God and his 
 Fatlier....Rev. i. 6. 
 
 Christ has done a great work for us : but docs he only call us 
 to believe it, and then leave us just as we woe, under the dominion 
 of sin, satan and the world? No ; he not only washes us from o\ir 
 sins which he hates in his blood, but he also tlignifies our person 
 which he loves by his power. 
 
 Hail Jesus, lavish of strange gifts to man! 
 
 Thine all the glory; man's the boiindlcbS bliss. 
 O miracle of grace! Christ hath made us kings and priests. 1st. 
 Kings to rule over sin, the world, death and hell. Sin brought 
 death into the world: death reigned over all that sinned; " but they 
 who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall 
 reign in life, by onk Jesus Christ.". ...Rom. v. 17. O believer, do 
 not you too oft forget your regal dignity ? Then you do not honor 
 your King of kings. Consider, you are made a king to reign in 
 LIFE : a spiritual life over all that is earthly, sensual and devilish. 
 Do you say, how can I reign over sin who am the subject of sin? 
 But you are not a subject to sin; " sin shall not have dominion over 
 yon, because you are not under the law but under grace.".... Rom» 
 vi. 14. , An earthly monarch may have many treacherous and rebel- 
 lious subjects who envy him and would dethrone him ; still in spite 
 of all he may keep his throne: so do you over all rebel lusts and 
 Iraiterous dispositions; for, Christ is king ever you: you reign by 
 his power : you are a king unto Cod : you reign to his glory. 2d^ 
 PiUF.ST. The priest under the law, offered gifts and sacrifices 
 according to the law: under the gospel we are, "a holy priesthood, 
 to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to (>od by Jesus Christ.".... 
 1 Pet..ii. 5. Even those of a broken heart and contrite spirit, our 
 bodies and souls, time and talents, prayers and praises, yea to sacri- 
 fice our lusts, our sinful selves, our love of the world, our free-wiU 
 pride, all our carnal reason and self-righteousness, all and everjT 
 thing which is contrary to our Lord's will and glury: for as Christ 
 our high priest has offered up himself to God for us, so we are to 
 ofler up ourselves to God by him. O believer, study more and rnore 
 your regal dignity and royal priesthood. Will an earthly monarch 
 so degrade and demean hiuiself as to be the eompunion, and gratify 
 the humors of traitors and rebels ? Will any christian priest sacrifice 
 to heathen idols? O, when lusts present and satan tempts, consider, 
 Christ hath made me a king to reign over them. W^hen worldly- 
 vanities allure, remember, Christ hath made me a priest to sacrifice 
 them to his honor and glory. 
 
164 JUNE 10. 
 
 Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to 
 faith. The just shall live by J aith... .Rom. \. 17. 
 
 It is but lost labour that poor sinners rise up early, late take 
 rest, and eat the bread of carefulness in order to make themselves 
 righteous. The Lord makes his beloved people righteous in a 
 quite different way. Righteousness is already perfectly wrought 
 out to the honoring and magnifying God's law: it is fully brought 
 into the court of heaven, to the satisfying God's justice : it is 
 clearly revealed in the gospel, for the hope and encouragement of 
 poor sinners. Observe, 1st. By way of eminence it is styled "the 
 righteousness of God:" not as it is essential to his divine nature; 
 for what comfort, what hope can a poor sinner take from that ? The 
 more plainly that is revealed, the more clearly that is known, so 
 much the more miserable must it make the poor unrighteous sinner ; 
 but it is the righteousness with which God is well pleased, and for 
 the sake of which he can be just while he justifies the ungodly sin- 
 ner: it is the righteousness which the Son of God wrought out in 
 our nature, to clothe and adorn and make us poor, naked sinners 
 righteous and comely in God's sight. 2d. This righteousness is 
 revealed in the gospel : blessed gospel ! It brings glad tidings of an 
 infinitely perfect, and everlastingly glorious righteousness. Soul, 
 where art thou looking for righteousness? In thyself? Poring over 
 thyself, thy frames, and thy works to find righteousness? As well 
 expect to find a saint in hell or a devil in heaven as to find righteous- 
 ness in thyself. Search the gospel; there thou wilt find it revealed: 
 the gospel is God's testimony of Jesus: he is the only righteous 
 man that has ever been upon earth since sin entered into the world : 
 " His name is the Lord our righteousness. "....Jer. xxiii. 6. 5d. 
 It is revealed from faith to faith; from the doctrine of faitlj in the 
 word, to the grace of faith in the heart: it runs through every page 
 of the sacred word down from the patriarchs, prophets, and Old 
 Testament saints to New Testament believers, to Gentile sinners in 
 every age. This divine and glorious righteousness is unto all, and 
 upon all that believe.... Rom. iii. 22. Equally alike, whether faith 
 be weak or strong. For, 4th. The just shall live by faith : this is 
 quite different from living by working; for the law is never satisfied 
 with our doings because we can never fulfil it; therefore we can 
 never enjoy peace of mind, but condemnation of conscience : but 
 by faith we live from day to day upon Jesus our law-fulfilling head. 
 Hence we have peace of conscience, love of heart, joy of spirit, 
 and holiness of life. O what a sweet life is this! None know the 
 glory of it but the faithful: it is living above nature, out of self, 
 and beyond sin. One step more and we shall be with Christ in glory. 
 
JUNE 11. 165 
 
 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and Ihijfcllozcs 
 that sit before thee : fur they are men uondered af : for 
 behold, I will bring forth my servant the Brujich,... 
 Zech. iii. 8. 
 
 Say, christian soldier, did the captain of thy salvation ever 
 deceive thee? Did he not tell thee, before thou listed under his ban- 
 ner, who were his enemies and what treatment thou wast to expect 
 from them? His word speaks full and express on this point: almost 
 every page furnishes accounts how the men of this world look upon 
 tht children of God. Here is Joshua the high-priest, with the i.to- 
 phets and people of God, wondered at. Jehovah himself takes 
 notice of it and acquaints them with it. Sweet to observe, there 
 cannot be a disdainful frown, a contemptuous sneer, nor a reproachful 
 word cast upon God's people, but he notices all. But why are we 
 so much to be wondered at ? Why truly we are a set of visionaries ; 
 we see invisible objects, walk by faith, and have our conversation in 
 heaven; but carnal men cannot sec any of these things. How then 
 can they wonder at us for this? Here lies the mystery ; they see 
 plain enough that you cannot live as they do, and enjoy yourself in 
 their ways, (woe be to that christian who does) and therefore they 
 wonder what is come lo you and what you would be at. Soul, was 
 you never wondered at? If not, you have a right to question 
 whether you have been faithful to your Lord, who is styled wondeh- 
 FUL....Isa. ix. 6. And he says, "Behold I, and the children whom 
 the Lord hath given me, are for signs and wonders in Israel. "....Isa. 
 viii. 18. Better be a wonder of satan's children than a slave to their 
 master; for while the wicked wonder at and despise us, see the re- 
 ward God gives us: here is a blessed promise for us which infinitely 
 over-balances all; behold, I will bring forth my servant, the 
 branch; "Jesus your Saviour : that branch of the Lord, who shall 
 be beautiful and glorious."....lsa. iv. 2. That" righteous branch." 
 ,...Jcr. xxiii. 5. I will bring forth to your view ; so display his 
 beauty, glory and righteousness to the faith of your hearts, that you 
 shall rejoice in him with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. 
 Now, christian, you have two things to wonder at: 1st. The aston- 
 ishing rich grace of thy God. 2d. At thyself. Art not thou a 
 mere lump of sin, yet a miracle of mercy, and a monument of 
 
 Dear Lord, my soul would thee confess Lord, while I live and own thy grace. 
 Before a wond'ring throng: Give me to prove its pow'r; 
 
 Thou. art my glorious righteousness, Lest I disgrace thy holy ways, 
 My love, my joy, my song. In an unguarded hour. M. 
 
165 JUNE 12. 
 
 lllicrcfore look ye so sadhj lO'day?....Gcn. xl. 7. 
 
 A svMPATiiisixG spirit at all times becomes christians: they 
 are caUcd "to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to. weep with 
 them that weep.".. .".Rom. 12. 15. Joseph could not observe the sad 
 looks of his fellow-prisoners without enquiring the cause: they said, 
 "We have dreamed a dream and there is no interpreter for it." 
 ISlind the use Joseph makes of the distress : he refers them to the 
 l^ord: "Do not interpretations belong unto God?" O, may the 
 Lord help us to make some improvement of this. Consider, 1st. 
 Christians arc all follow-prisoners in a body of sin asd death. 2d. 
 Wc are all subject at one time or another to have cause for sad looks. 
 Sd. We should imitate Joseph ; be of a sympathising spirit; feel for 
 one another's distress ; enquire the cause of our brethren's sad looks. 
 4th. As he did, so we should refer to the Lord: aim as enabled by 
 the Lord, to speak a word in season, that if the Lord please we may 
 be interpreters to them of God's mind concerning them; may be a 
 means of unridling the dark and perj)Iexing schemes of providence, 
 of unfolding the mysteries of iniquity which works in them, and of 
 displaying the mysteries ©f godliness to them. Bear ye one 
 fir.o'ther's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Consider, 
 von are under the law of Christ: this is a law of love. O, what 
 a blessing doth the Lord make one christian to another 1 How often 
 are we enabled to solve each other's difficulties, and macLe a means of 
 setting each other's souls at liberty ! But, 5th. Consider Joseph as 
 a type of our dear Savioui': we cannot look sadly, but his eye of 
 compassion is upon us, his heart of love is towards us; "For we 
 have not an high-priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our 
 infirmities, Init was in all points tempted like as we are."....rieb. 
 iv. 15. To one disciple in distress iic saith, "Whercfdre didsl thou 
 doubt ?".... Matt. xiv. 31. 'J"o others, " Why are ye troubled r Why 
 do thoughts arise in your hearts ?".... Luke xxiv. 38. To another, 
 a sorrowful woman, " Why weepest thou ?".... John xx. 15. Think 
 of his loving heart and tender speeches to sinners: carry your cases 
 of conscience to him and spread the causes of your sadness before 
 him. He is a blessed messenger of peace, a precious interpreter of 
 the ways of God, to our souls... .Job. xxxiii. 23. He will shew us 
 the path of life : " In his presence is fulness of joy, at his right-hand 
 there are pleasures for evermore.".... Psalm xvi. 1 1. 
 
 My heart is pain'd, my face is sad. My sins and follies I confess, 
 Thy absence. Lord, I mourn: The cause of all my woe: 
 
 Thy presence doih my soul make glad: I plead thy blood and righteousness. 
 Return, my Lord, return. Thro' them let comforti flow. M. 
 
JUNE 13. 167 
 
 Then is the offtnce of ihc cross ceased... .Gal. v. 1 1. 
 
 Another version reads the words as a question, Is the offence 
 of the cross ceased? No, nor ever will while there is a christian 
 upon the earth. The cross is put for that ever loving Jf.sus,'who 
 hung upon it as a curse for our souls and an atonement for our sins. 
 O, let us be ever jealous of, zealous for the glory of the cross, for 
 the sake of the Lamb, who finished our salvation upon it. The 
 cross of Christ is the christian's glory : the offence th.e world takes 
 at him, is' a proof that he has-taken up the cross of Christ and is 
 following him. This no man can do faithfully, but he must give 
 offence. Settle this well in your mind : sit down and count your 
 cost. Are you willing to be Christ's glory and the world's scorn ? 
 Do you expect all from tlie cross ? Then give up all for the crosj. 
 Here nature recoils, flesh and blood rebels, carnal reason pleads 
 that woyldly prudence may be attended to : look at such and such a 
 professor, they go on very quietly ; the world takes no offence at 
 them. Why is it? They arc eiiher quite dead in sin or fallen. into 
 % deep sleep of security. Converse with them ; you will tind no 
 sweet savour of Jesus upon their tongue, no warm affections to 
 Christ in their hearts, no burning zeal for his glory in their lives : 
 Ivencc, as the offence of the cross is ceased with them, so the peace, 
 comfort and joy of it is departed from them. For the truth of this 
 I dare appeal to my own and every disciple's heart. When was 
 your soul most active for Cod, most filled with his love ; enjoy- 
 ing most fellowship with hi«j, and peace and comfort in him ? Say, 
 was it not when you lived nearest to the cross, and found most of 
 the offence of the cfoss of Christ ? You must confess it. Holy 
 Paul seemed to dread the offence of the cross. of Christ ceasing. 
 He was jealous lest any should question it. Lord Jesus, hast thou 
 done so much in thy holy life and suffered so much by thy precious 
 death on the cross for our soul's ecernal siilsation, and shall we 
 be ashamed of thy cross ? Shall we be afraid of confessing the faith 
 of our hearts and the hope of our souls in thee, with our lips, and 
 in our lives ? O, forbid it 1 Never, never shall I foiget my late dear, 
 dear friend, the Rev. Mr. Jones, with his usual warmth of affec- 
 tion to Christ, preaching upon the scandal of the cross ; says he, 
 •' My dear friends, you who are afraid to los^ your good name for 
 Christ's sake, I pity you from my heart. Thank God mine is gone 
 long ago." "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of 
 Jesus Christ. ".... Gal. vi. 14. 
 
 I'll t!;!ory in the cross of Christ, Say I am foolish, I am mad; 
 
 Tho' men olFandc-d be; If i Christ's omforts prove, 
 
 •Tis ihro' his blood that 1 ana blest, It ne'er shall make my spirit sad, 
 
 To ull eternity. I'll triumph in his love. 
 
168 JUNE 14. 
 
 The righteous is taken aivayjrom the eviL...Isa. Ivii. I. 
 
 Why then do we not rejoice over the dead, who die in the 
 Lord ? Why do we, who profess to be in the Lord, fear to die ? 
 Death will be the funeral of all our evils and the resurrection of all 
 our comforts. Why then do we at all dread it? Why so reluctant 
 to be taken from the many evils ^^'e suffer here? Why not rather 
 longing to be for ever with the Lord ? Plainly, it is for want of 
 faith: the point is not fully settled between our Saviour and our 
 souls, whether we are his righteous members or not, and hence we 
 do not walk closely and comfortably with him, and then the fear of 
 death prevails over us. A believer in Jesus, and a righteous person, 
 are convertible terms. Every believer is a living member of Christ, 
 united to, and one with him. They are righteous as Christ is, as 
 man and mediator : his very righteousness is theirs : they are 
 clothed with it, and stand perfectly righteous before God in it. 
 Hence the holy Spirit is given to us : he enables us to walk in the 
 paths of righteousness, and to bring forth the fruits of righteous- 
 ness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory of God....Phil. i. 11. 
 See the blessedness of the righteous : they are " taken away from 
 the evil.'' The Lord doth this for them because he loves them. 
 To COME is not in the original. They are taken from all present evil. 
 1st. They are taken from an evil nature : this is the grief and burden 
 of their righteous souls from day to day ; but the death of the body 
 shall quite destroy the body of sin and death : they shall drop this 
 body, and wing their way to endless glory. 2d. From the evil of sin : 
 though this did not reign over them, yet it raged in them : though 
 they were not under its dominion, yet it warred in their members and 
 made them cry out, O wretched! Sin brought death into the world ; 
 death shall be the grave of sin: the righteous is not taken away in his 
 sins but from the evil of them. 3d. From that evil of evils, unbelief. 
 This now dishonors God, causes weak hands and dejected hearts; but 
 in death we shall part with it forever. 4th. From all the evil of this 
 present world: all pains, trials, afflictions, See. from whatever cause, 
 we shall be forever delivered. This is the negative blessedness of the 
 riirhteous. Who shall describe their positive happiness? It hath not 
 entered into the heart of man to conceive what the Lord hath pre- 
 pared for them who love him: this we must die fully to know. O, 
 love the Lord all ye his saints. 
 
 My Lord, who gave me rightcoiisne!.s. He soon will take my soul by death, 
 And makes me love his ways; From all my ills and strife: 
 
 With ev'ry good my s<-ui wiU bless, Hii arms will then be nnderncath, 
 Until I cud my days. To raise me unio life. M- 
 
JUNE 15. 169 
 
 Should such a man as I jiee?....Neh, vi. 1 1 . 
 
 Nehemiah was engaged in a great work: his God was with 
 him, and gave success unto him: friends and enemies unite against 
 him: by base insinuation, craft and stratagem, they strove to dis- 
 hearten and deter him from going on with God's work. Opposition 
 is the christian's lot; courage his honor; perseverance his jewel. 
 Look at this man of God : he boldly repels all fear. Instead of 
 fleeing from his work as advised, he flees to his God, and cries, "O 
 God, strengthen my hands." Faith inspires prayer : prayer brings 
 courage to the heart : then he boldly demands. Should such 
 A MAN AS I FLEE ? A man so greatly favored, so highly honored, 
 as to be employed by God to work for him ? No ; I disdain such 
 mean cowardice: I will work on: it is God's cause : let God see to 
 the event; I fear it not. 
 
 Christian, know your calling : it is to work for God: expect op- 
 position from within and without. This may call up fear and dis. 
 may ; but consider your dignity ; maintain and assert it : " Should 
 such a man as I flee ?" A man called by the grace of Jesus to resist 
 the devil, to face carnal men, to vanquish sin, to overcome the 
 world, to victory over death, and to receive a crown of righteous- 
 ness in endless glory: shall I flee ? What, I who am called to be 
 strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus ? O, my soul, put 
 on Christ and put off fear: put up prayer and put down dread. 
 From whom should such a man as I flee ? Of whom should I be 
 afraid ? Doth not my Lord say, my grace is sufficient for thee, my 
 strength is made perfect in thy weakness ? O Lord, strengthen my 
 heart to resist satan, that he may flee from me, and to overcome 
 the fear of man, which is a snare to mc. I bless thee for thy prtcious 
 word : strengthen my heart in the faith of it : " Fear not, neither be 
 faint-hearted, for the two tails of these smoking fire-brands.".. ..Isa. 
 vii. 4. Hearken unto me ; fear not the reproach of men, neither be 
 afraid of their revilings....Isa. li. 7. I, even I am he who comfort- 
 eth you. Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that 
 shall die, and the son of man which shall be made as grass, and 
 forgettest the Lord thy maker ? " The Lord God will help me : I 
 shall not be confounded : have I set my face like a flint ? I shall 
 not be ashamed : the moth shall eat up my adversai'ies."....Isa. 1. 7. 
 
 Courage my friends, Christ's strength is our's, 
 
 Though of ourselves we've none : 
 Why should we dread our hostile p^wVs? 
 
 They're conquer'd ev'ry one. 
 Look up and see our Saviour stand, 
 
 Pleading your cause and mine 
 Before the throne, at God's right hand ; 
 
 Courage, our aid's divine. 
 
 Vol. JL X 
 
170 JUNE 16. 
 
 We are not of litem who draw back unto perdilion; but of 
 them that believe unto the saving of the soul. ...Jleb.x. 39. 
 There is somewhat implied in this text, which is not expres- 
 btd : it Mas not out of the apostle's thoughts : it ought never to be out 
 of ours. Wljy do we not draw back unto perdition ? Is it because of 
 our own might, power and faithfulness ? No ; '' but because \vc arc 
 KEPT by the power of God through faith unto salvation."....! Pet. 
 i. .5. Why do any draw back unto perdition ? Because they do not 
 believe tlie word of God ; do not live upon the poAver of God : their 
 hearts are not renewed by the grace of God ; and they do not choose 
 for their portion, in time and eternity, the Son of God. But they 
 must have made some progress in the way of salvation, else how can 
 they draw bacli unto perdition ? Many go great lengths in profes- 
 sion and expression : they are like a new moon that shines bright 
 at the beginning, but does not last all night : they seem to begin 
 well, to run fast, and to bid fair, with Christ in their hearts and 
 heaven in their vieAV : they talk of the views of faith and the joys 
 of faith : but alasl time discovers that their hearts were not vitally 
 united to Jesus the author and finisher of faith ; therefore they ob- 
 tain not the victory of faith. An unconquered world prevails against 
 them, unsubdued lusts get the dominion over them ; and satan 
 makes a complete conquest of them : the lamp of profession goes 
 out and they draw back to perdition. Awful state ! How much to 
 be dreaded: How earnestly to be deprecated! O consider, soul, 
 there is perdition in the least drawing back. Though you may be 
 kept so as not finally to perish, yet you will awfully suffer loss, if 
 you lose the presence of Christ, the comforts of love, and the joys 
 of faith. . O, this is dreadful loss I Remember, JesuS is a living 
 Saviour : the soul is to be saved from all evil and sin, from day to day :' 
 faith is a living grace in the heart ; by it come to Christ continually, 
 believe his love, his power, his willingness to save you to the very 
 uttermost, from the power of sin, the corruption of I'lature, the love 
 of the world, the snares of hell, into all the happiness and glory 
 of heaven. O, may the thought of a possibility of drawing back 
 froiu Christ quicken us to watch and pray to him to be kept. Study 
 what are the best means of strengthening your faith; use them. 
 What things are contrary thereto, avoid. It is by believing we 
 hold on ami hold out ; for that brings the grace and strength of 
 Christ into the soul. 
 
 Siill let our souls be passing on, God keeps us by his mighty pow'r 
 
 Nor ever think of drawing back : Thro' faith eternal joys to see: 
 
 llede»m'dand aav'dby God'^ dear Son, Tho' hard beset, in some sad hour 
 Suj)plies of gruce we ne'er shall lock. He'll 5>et our souls at liberty. M. 
 
JUNE 17. 171 
 
 For the Lord xvill not cast of for ever....! Aim. iii. SI. 
 
 "Thk\- there is no clanger of perishing. Let us live as we 
 list : walk after the imagination of our hearts ; and fulfil the desires 
 of the flesh and of the mind." Is this the natural language of 
 such a faith ? This the genuine inducnce of such a hope ? This the 
 conduct resulting from the knowledge of God's everlasting love ? 
 Yes, say some, if we could belie\c such doctrine, we should so acr. 
 Such sadlj betray their ignorance of th*e sanctifying influence of 
 divine truth upon the heart and life. This day shalt thou be with 
 me in paradise, says our Saviour to the expiring thief... .Luke 
 xxiii. 43. Could he hence find it in his heart to say, then will I 
 blaspheme thee again as I did just now? C) no: the grace of Ciod 
 •which brings salvation to our souls, teaches otherwise; the good- 
 ness of God, which keeps us from hell and preserves us safe to 
 glory, leadeth us to repentance ; and faith in the covenant-love 
 and gracious promises of the Lord, encourages us to hope for par- 
 don from him, because he will not cast ofl" for ever. This was the 
 glorious confession of the faithful, when under the severe, chastis- 
 ing rod of God: then is the season to call to mind the Lord's e\-yr- 
 lasting love and covenant faithfulness. He loves as a father, there- 
 fore he corrects us as children: he hates our sins at the same time 
 that he loves our persons. If he makes us smart, it is to make us 
 confess and pray: if he puts us into the furnace of afllirlions, it i» 
 that we may glorify the Lord in the fires.... Isa. xxiv. 15. This 
 cannot be done by unbelief, saying, the love of my covenant God 
 and Father is changed into the hatred of a vindiciive, wrathful 
 enemy ; he has cast me ofl' from being his son and will eternally 
 punish me in hell: such doctrine never brought a soul back to God 
 Avith genuine humility and godly sorrow. No ; it is faith Im God's 
 unchangeable love and covenant faithfulness in Christ Jesus tliat 
 glorifies him, brings the poor sinner to him, humbles the heart 
 before him, and causes the soul to cry out with tears of dcep.st 
 gratitude, wretch that I am, by any base conduct lo oflend that 
 loving Lord, who hates putting away and will not cast off for cverl 
 Lord Jesus, grant that the belief of this truth may bind me closer 
 than ever to thyself: we can assure our hearts of this precious 
 truth. 1st. "Because we are the children of God by faith in 
 Christ. "....Gal. iii. 26. 2d. " If children, then heirs of God and 
 joint heirs with Christ.".... Rom. viii. 17. And, Sd. " We are kept 
 by the power of God, through faith unto salvation."....! Pet. i. 5» 
 
 Who have such glorious csui";e to sing, Not loved now. cast off anon, 
 And triumph all their days, This is »v>t precious f.iith : 
 
 As children of the heav'iily king, God ever loves us in his Son, 
 
 Sav'd hy his sov'ieign grace > We joy in whi.t kj saith. M^ 
 
172 JUNE IS. 
 
 And killed the prince of life.... Acts iii. 15. 
 
 O DREADFUL cffccts of the fall of man! We are not only 
 become enemies to God and rebels against him, but are also so igno- 
 rant of ourselves and so blind to our own state, that we do not see 
 this : we will not own it. An enemy to God ! What, to that good 
 and gracious Lord, in whom I live, move, and have my being ? I 
 cannot think that any one upon earth can be so wicked as to be an 
 enemy to God: such is the language of blind nature: thou that 
 utterest it art the man. Yea, such is the enmity of thine, of every 
 man's nature against God, that were it possible and in our power, 
 we should kill God. Start not at the thought ! horrid as it is, here 
 is proof of it. God was manifest in flesh. How was he received ? 
 How was he treated by sinful man? Let the annals of his holy life 
 speak the base contempt and hellish treatment he met with from 
 man : let the history of his painful and agonizing death proclaim 
 the enmity of sinner's hearts against him. They killed.. .. who ? 
 JesuB of Nazareth, a mere man, mighty in word and deed? a great 
 prophet only ? Infinitely more, O unparallelled mystery of iniquity ! 
 O inscrutable mystery of godliness! They killed the princf. or 
 LIFE. Such the abominable wickedness of human nature, such the 
 total blindness of the human heart, a murderer is preferred to an 
 innocent man ; a vile miscreant is spared, the holy God, the author 
 of life is put to death. Here, O soul, behold the true but horrid 
 picture of human nature : such its enmity to God, as to take away 
 the life of God. Dost thou think in thine heart, surely my nature 
 is not so dreadfully wicked, I could not have done so vile a deed ? 
 Thou dost not yet know thyself; thy thoughts proceed from blind- 
 ness and ignorance of the depth of thy totally wicked nature : as 
 yet thou seest not the amazing heights of the Lord's love. The 
 prince of life dies by the wicked hands of men of wicked hearts. 
 To what end ? That by his death his very murderers should lire 
 and not die eternally. O matchless love ! Learn, O my soul, this 
 night, to fathom the depth of the wicked enmity of the human 
 heart, by the heights of the love of a dying God. Sin has done its 
 worst, slain my God, that I might live ; satan, thou hast wrecked 
 thy hellish wrath : but thou art conquered in my Saviour's death. 
 I-.a'y, thou hast sheathed thy strongest sting and spent the poison 
 of thy dart in the body of my God: but glory to my prince of life, 
 he lives to love, and loves to save : I am safe. O, may the Spirit 
 raaiic this faith kill legal hopes and self-righteous confidence. 
 
 Amazing, vvnnc^'rnus mystery, [kill; But God did suffer this to be ; 
 
 That men the prince of life should To save our sonls from death and hell. 
 
JUNE 19. 173 
 
 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so 
 walk ye in him. ...Col. ii. 6. 
 
 It is to the glory of the grace of the holy, blessed and glorious 
 trinity, that any poor sinner receives Christ : and Christ is the gloiy 
 of that heart which receives him : thus there is a mutual complacency 
 and delight between Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit, and believing 
 souls. Every one who believes in Christ Jesus, has received Christ 
 as his Lord, his atonement, his righteousness, his salvation, as 
 verily as Paul or any of his apostles, God is alike the Father of all 
 such; the Son is alike the Saviour of all such, and the Holy Ghost 
 is alike the sanctificr and comforter of all such. O, well may tlie 
 believing heart cry out in a rapture of joy, Lord what rich grace is 
 thisl What glorious privilege am I invested with I What hast thou 
 wrought 1 What am I ! Why should Jesus apprehend me, worthless 
 me, that I should apprehend himl Lord, what wouldst thou have 
 me to do? Hear and obey : walk yk in him. What is meant by 
 this? In one word,' seeing Christ is yours, enjoy him more and more : 
 how ? How did you receive him ? As a perishing sinner by faith : 
 th.'n so walk in him : walking implies the whole of a believer's life: 
 that his soul sliould be in constant motion ; that the eye of his faith 
 should be ever looking to, and his heart dependent on, Christ Jesus 
 the Lord : so he walks comfortably, holily, steadily, and persever- 
 ingly to the glory of his Saviour. But shall we meet with no inter- 
 ruptions in thus walking in Christ who is the wav ? Not from 
 him, for he is a most smooth, xlelightful and pleasant way: only 
 keep in him Jind you are sure of safety and comfort ; but, from within 
 and from without, you will meet with a crowd of objections and 
 interruptions in your walk : the pride and the lusts of the (Icsh will 
 oppose you ; satan will jostle against and strive to impede your steps ; 
 the world will attempt to seduce you : be simple of heart, know 
 every step that you are as poor a sinner as when you first received 
 Christ: make him the one object of your heart: when you are ready 
 to halt at the sight of your wickedness, poverty and vileness, consi- 
 der him, look to him, cry to him ; so shall you renew your strength: 
 " you shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint."....Isa. xU 31. 
 You are just at your journey's end ; you have the shades of death to 
 pass through. What of that ? " Though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.".... 
 Psalm xxiii. 4. 
 
 Now we walk in Christ by faith, Christ is a most pleasant way, 
 
 Everhearing what he saith Let us from him never stray : 
 
 In his word, unto our heart : In him we have all things good, 
 
 He from us will not depart. Brought us thro' his precious blood. M. 
 
174 JUNE 20. 
 
 Tli}j maker is thine husband ; the Lord of hosts is his name, 
 and tinj redeemer the holy one of Israel: the God of the 
 zchole earth shall he be called.... Isa. iiv. 5. 
 
 In this one verst is a trinity of comforts : all are enjoyed in the 
 unity of faith : tlie Spirit benrs witness of them : let our hearts 
 attend to them. Consider, 1st. Thou sin-distressed, law-accursed, 
 satan-accused soul, thy maker is thine husband. Glorious 
 gospel : faith listen, love awake, hope rejoice. In the Hebrew, thy 
 Maker's thy husband : Father, Son and Spirit. The triune God Avho 
 made thee, is married to thee, and in covenant with thee. How is 
 this relation eiTected ? God the Son comes into our nature : takes 
 upon him our flesh : we are peculiarly espoused to Christ. 1st. By 
 his ministers: says Paul, "I have espoused you to Christ.".. ..2 Cor. 
 xi..2. 2d. Experimentally by faith. ^Ve know nothing of the lov- 
 ing, eternal designs of Christ to our souls, till by the grace of his 
 Spirit we are brought to him, receive him, and give him our hearts 
 as our own bridegroom : then we feel the blessings, and enjoy the 
 comfort of marriage union : we live in love ; walk by faith ; rejoice 
 in hope. O Christ, make us and keep us chaste virgins to thee ! 3d. 
 Christ is our Rkdekmzr : why husband before Redeemer ? I hum- 
 bly conceive, to remind us of his eternal love to us : of his eternally 
 espousing our cause, and his purpose before time of marrying our 
 persons. There he took our nature, that in our nature he might 
 redeem us to God his Father : he has effectually done it by his pre- 
 cious blood : being redeemed by him and married to him, the Father 
 owns the relation, glories over us in him, and the Spirit sanctifies 
 and comforts us in him. Therefore, 4th. As an affectionate bride 
 glories in the person, and rejoices in the titles of her husband, so, 
 O soul, do thou in thy heavenly bridegroom. 1st. He is thy Maker : 
 he who was almighty to create, is almighty to preserve. 2d. He is 
 THE Lord of hosts : what can all the powers of earth and hell do 
 against him? 3d. He is thr God of the whole earth: the 
 Lord God omnipotent is thy Jesus ; ever glory in him, as equal to 
 the Father, as touching his godhead : fools deny this : the wise unto 
 salvation believe, adore, and glory in Christ as such ; who only 
 hath immortality to bestow upon poor siimers, "to whom be honor 
 and power everlasting, Amen. "....1 Tim. vi. 16. Ever remember, 
 we are married to Christ that wc should bring forth fruit unto God.... 
 Rom. vii. 4. 
 
 Wedded to the Lord; what, vile mc' AH othcrlovers I'd forsake, 
 O woiid'rous grace I O matchless love! My Lord, tli> love has won my heart: 
 Lord, ever k»e[) me chaste to tlice, For tho' I'm poor, wretched and weak, 
 That I may all ihy goodtiCis prove. Christ i:. my ail, in liiin I've purt. M. 
 
JUNE 21. 17A 
 
 Drop dozen ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour 
 down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them 
 bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up 
 together: I the Lord have created it....Isa. xlv. 8. 
 Some speak very profanely against the councils and decrees of 
 God: this proceeds from carnal reason and ignorance of divine 
 truths: "There is a God in heaven who rereah secrets. "....Dan. 
 ii. 28. The scriptures are a revelation of the mind and will, coun- 
 cil, decrees, and corenant purposes of the Lord : they contain things 
 new and old; the new covenant grace in Christ Jesus, as well as 
 the old covenant of works with our first parent. Hence it is the 
 delight of God's children to search the records of their heavenly 
 Father : to believe them in their hearts, is a certain evidence of 
 their being his new-born sons and adopted children in Christ. Here 
 is a precious portion for thee to feed upon to-night. Sensible that 
 thou hast lost thy original righteousness, in which thou wast creat- 
 ed, behold, O soul, from whence it is restored. Not from the 
 earth : it comes from above : by the decrees of the Lord, the 
 heavens and the skies pour it down : the Lord spake, and it is 
 done: he commands, and it is brought forth. When righteous- 
 ness had forsaken the earth, lo, the Lord our righteousness 
 came down from heaven to fulfil all righteousness for us, and to 
 bestow an everlasting righteousness upon us : he came down to us 
 as rain, as the former and the latter rain unto the earth.... Hos. vi. 3. 
 Let the earth open. The Lord from heaven was made of a 
 woman: formed in the lowest parts of the earth. Let them 
 BRING FORTH SALVATION. What them ? Heaven and earth united : 
 God and man in one Christ. This is the way in which righteous- 
 ness comes to unrighteous sinners; so salvation comes to perishing 
 sinners; both spiung up together in the God-man Jesus. I the 
 Lord have created it. See, O sinner, and be humble: thou 
 hast no hand in this matter. Canst thou create or give being to any 
 thing ? Pride avaunt. No : creation is the Lord's work only : 
 Jesus is the author of righteousness, he the alone finisher of sal- 
 vation. Rejoice in this new and glorious creation of righteousness 
 and salvation. Faith receives it : hope cleaves to it : peace is 
 obtained by it : joy springs from it : love is excited to the righteous 
 Saviour, while the poor sinner is kept in his right place^ at Jesu's 
 feet. Now, if this heavenly blessing has been rained down upon 
 thy soul, it will be alive to God, spring up in his service, and bring 
 forth fruit to his glory. What 1 If righteousness is poured upon 
 the© from heaven, wilt thou, continue dead in sin r No : you will 
 approve the things which are excellent, and pray to be filled with 
 the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory 
 of God....Phil. i. U. 
 
176 JUNK 22. 
 
 The secret of I he Lord is with lhe?n that fear him, and he 
 ivill shew them his covenant.... Psalm xxv. 14. 
 
 Who would trust the secrets of his heart with an avowed ene- 
 my? David could reveal all that was in him to Jonathan. Why ? 
 Because he was his loving, faithful friend : he could trust his very 
 life in his hands. There was a secret between them two, which no 
 one else was privy to : when Jonathan shot the arrows as a signal 
 to David, even the lad that gathered them up, " knew not any 
 thing, only Jonathan and David knew the matter."....! Sam. xx. 39. 
 Some professors are like this lad : the Lord will not triist them 
 with his secret ; they would abuse it. It is common to hear such 
 LADS in religion say, well, if I was sure that God loved me with 
 an everlasting love, had chosen me from eternity, and^would keep 
 me by his power, through faith unto salvation, what need I care 
 how I live ? Do not such discover that they are strangers to the love 
 and fear of the friends of God, and that as yet the Lord hath not 
 shewed them his covenant ? Out of their own mouths they judge 
 themselves not worthy to be trusted with the Lord's secret. But the 
 great purpose of the Lord's electing grace, everlasting love, and 
 preserving power, is with them who fear the Lord: they cannot, they 
 will not sin because grace abotinds : fear prevents : love restrains. 
 The Lord who put this covenant grace into their hearts, keeps it 
 alive there : how ? He will shew them his covenant: he will 
 manifest more and more the glorious grace of it in Christ; how it 
 is established upon God's precious promises, confirmed by his 
 solemn oath, ratified by the precious blood of Christ, and all the 
 blessings and comforts of it sure and certain to all the believing 
 seed of Christ. O, this keeps a holy, loving, jealous fear in exer- 
 cise. Do not yon find it so ? This is the natural efi'ects of it, for 
 this is the work of the Holy Spirit ; thereby he at once comforts 
 our heart and sanctifies us unto God. While we love him as our 
 Father, we fear him as his chiUh-en : the secret of his love makes 
 liim dear to our souls: the grace of his covenant strengthens our 
 confidence in him, keeps up fear of sinning against him. The holy, 
 precious nature of covenant grace, everlasting love, divine faithful- 
 ness, are all secured to the seed of Christ. Meditate upon it ; give 
 efpial glory to the trinity for it : for, thus saith Jehovah, " My cove- 
 nant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my 
 lips."....rsylm Ixxxix. 34. 
 
 Gill proves our souls 1>t love (liviiie> But such as would thy grace abuse. 
 
 Thro' everlasting cov'naiu grace : And sin because grace does abound, 
 
 Ai.d thus we shew that we are thine, And dare aflVont thee to thv ftice, 
 
 We walk in fear betore thy lace. Thy secret Lord, have never found. M- 
 
JUNE 23. ijf 
 
 Lacked ye any thins? And they said nothing.... Liike 
 xxii. 35. 
 
 Precious words to me : one is unwilling to apeak of one's self; 
 there is danger of pride and self-seeking in it: yet with a view to 
 our Lord's glory, a sincere desire to exalt his grace and goodness, 
 and to encourage fellow-christians' confidence therein, a poor sinner 
 may speak of his experience. With tears of thankfulness, I record 
 the goodness of my Lord to the chief of sinners. L'pwards of 
 twenty years ago, when it pleased him to call me by his grace and 
 make me happy in his love, my name was cast out as evil ; friends 
 became foes ; their hands were against me ; they withdrew their 
 favors from me, and derided me. Under narrow circumstances; 
 tender feelings for a large family ; carnal reasonings of my cor- 
 rupt nature ; and strong temptations from the enemy, I was often 
 sore distressed ; but my Lord was gracious: many and many a time 
 did he bring this text to my mind ; and, as it were, with all love 
 and tenderness, asked me, lackedst thou any thing? I was con- 
 strained with gratitude to reply, nothing Lord. Christ is a most 
 precious master to serve ! I have proved it. O, trust the Lord, ve 
 his saints; for they who trust him lack nothing. So these disciples 
 found it, though sent out in want of every thing. The hearts of all 
 men are in the Lord's hands : he will open them to administer to 
 the wants of his people. O, for stronger faith in him, greater love 
 to him, and more ardent desires to please him. We have here a 
 reproof against all that care and anxiety about the things of this life 
 which so sadly distress our minds. What shall we say to the spirit 
 and conduct of many professors ? They have all the same anxious 
 cares and solicitous concerns about the world, which the men of it 
 have: but Christ charges us, " Take no thought for your life, nei- 
 ther be ye of doubtful mind," Sec. ...Luke xii. 22, 29. Do they act as 
 if they ever heard, or gave the least credit to Christ ? O, say they, 
 we must do our duty and provide for our families. God forbid any 
 christian should neglect this. But must we therefore act like those 
 who know not God ? Plainly, such will be rich: they are anxious 
 to get a fortune : they want to be independent. Of whom? Of God. 
 Start not ! This spirit works in us all; over some it prevails : they 
 do not like to live so dependent on God, as every day to come to him 
 with, " Give us this day our daily bread." O, there is more atheism 
 and infidelity in the pursuits of such, than they are aware of. Hovr 
 many have forsaken Christ for the love of the world ! " They who 
 WILL be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown 
 men in destruction and perdition....! Tim. vi. 9» "The Lord is my 
 PORTION, saith my soul."....Lam. iii. 24. 
 Vol. n. Y 
 
T78 JUNE 24. 
 
 /br the love of money is the root of all evil: which zvhite 
 some coveted after ^ they have erred from the faith and 
 pierced themselves through zvith many sorrows. ...\ Tim. 
 vi. 10. 
 How hard to persuade a man, that there is any evil in that 
 which he loves ? Evil in money ! What evil can there be in that 
 which will purchase all things? Truly we may say of money, as one 
 said of a pack of cards. Being asked what harm there is in them, 
 replied none at all ; they are very innocent things, if you will not 
 meddle with them. So is money. But there is a curse in the 
 LOVE of it. There is the root of all evil. What mighty ills have 
 not been done by this? Why, the love of money will dethrone God 
 in the heart, and make a man an idolater : " Covetousness is idola- 
 try.". ...Col. iii. 5. Can there in all the world be a greater evil than 
 this? Is not this the root of all evil? Do not all evils spring from 
 hence. Love of money was the same in the apostle's days as it is 
 now: some then, as well as now, coveted after it. Some! Who? 
 Men who knew nothing about the gospel, or faith ? Not so : for 
 " they erred from the faith ;" so that it is plain, they either had, or 
 professed to have had the faith. How did they err? 1st. They 
 mistook the nature of faith : that brings God and Christ, and heaven 
 into the soul, and creates perfect happiness there. Money or no 
 money, such a soul says, the Lord is my portion: and, with Paul, 
 "I am full.".. ..Phil. iv. 18. But some have only an empty portion 
 which they mistake for faith ; this brings not spiritual enjoyment int© 
 the heart; hence they seek it in money. 2d. They erred, or went 
 out of the way of faith: faith sees every enjoyment as the gift 
 of God, is satisfied with it and thankful for it: but where there 
 is a greedy, insatiable desire after money, if such persons really 
 have faith, they will go out of the way of faith to obtain it, they 
 will rack their very brains, distress their poor hearts, and wear 
 out their bodies iu pursuit after riches. And what is the con- 
 sequence after all this erring from the faith? Wretched gain of 
 riches I They pierce themselves through with many sorrows: sor- 
 rows to get riches, sorrows to keep them, sorrows how to dispose 
 of them, sorrows to think they must leave them : but, sorrow above 
 all sorrows, a good God fwrsaken, precious Christ despised, a glo- 
 rious gospel rejected, an immortal soul neglected, for the love of 
 money. O, my dear Lord, let me see and enjoy thee as my best 
 gain, my truest riches. May my heart cleave to thee in stedfast 
 faith, abide in thee by sincere love, walk with thee in precious com- 
 munion, die in thee with sweet tranquility, and reign with thee ia 
 eternal glory. 
 
 What harm in money can there be ? Lord, it allures the heart from thee. 
 Then why not covet more } And binds it to our store. M. 
 
JUNE 25. 179 
 
 Having food and raimejitj let us be ihereioith content.... 
 1 Tim. vi. 8. 
 
 Man wants but little; that little not long : but unbelief multi- 
 plies our wants and magnifies our discontent. God rains down 
 manna: the people are delighted with it; but are not content to 
 trust God for the morrow's supply : they gathered more than would 
 serve for oRe day : what was the consequence ? " It bred worms and 
 stank. "....Exod. xvi. 20. Here distrust and unbelief prevailed, and 
 abundance begot discontent. O ye rich and great, is it not so 
 with you ? And thou, O my soul, thy pittance is more than Paul 
 here requires. Art thou content ? No riches, without Christ and 
 the riches of his grace, can bring content to the mind. But when 
 Christ vouchsafes to fulfil that precious word. ...Rev. ii. 17...." I will 
 give to eat of the hidden manna," then we shall have heart content, 
 though we have no more coats than backs, and but just food enough 
 to satisfy our hunger; for faith supplies all: it brings the supplier of 
 all into our hearts : there we feed upon him by faith : the supply of 
 our wants does not fix content in the mind : most of them are not 
 real, but imaginary : as wants increase so does discontent : 
 That cruel something unpossest 
 Corrodes and leavens all the rest. 
 True content arises from the mind being brought to our state: 
 Have we little or much? The Lord gave it : he sees best to give no 
 more. When his will is the law, the mind is content. See Paul's 
 reasons for content. 1st. Look back to your birth : " we brought 
 •nothing into the world:" if we have nothing, we have all we were 
 born with. 2d. Look forward to your death : " it is certain we can 
 carry nothing out of it." Think of your naked birth and naked 
 -death: all we possess we shall soon leave behind. Would you be 
 rich ? 3d. Paul says, this is to fall into temptation and a snare, and 
 into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction 
 and perdition ; for the love of money is the root of all evil. O, for 
 Agur's prayer: " Give me not riches.". ...Prov. xxx. 8» 4th. Whal 
 is the greatest gain ? Godliness with contentment : having Christ 
 for your food, and his righteousness your raiment, this brings true 
 content of mind. One who had nothing but bread and water, cried 
 out in an ecstacy, what all this and Christ too ! Learn more to live 
 by faith on the Son of God : all God's promises are yours in him : 
 this one is enough to silence murmurings and quell the risings of 
 discontent: "I will never leave thee, nor forfake thee."....Heb. 
 xiii. 5. 
 
 Then what avails my anxious care, If in God's promises I share, 
 
 For all things here below ? I'd all things else forego. M, 
 
1«0 JUNE 26. 
 
 Saw yc him ichom my soul lovcth?....Song iii. 3. 
 
 An abrupt question ; very odly stated. Had this enquirer no 
 name for her beloved ? Can she suppose every one she asks knew 
 >vho was the beloved of her soul, and was acquainted with her loss 
 of him ? The spouse of Christ here seems to be in ^reat discompo- 
 sure of mind ; just like a tender mother who has lost the beloved 
 son of her womb, or an affectionate wife in search after an indulgent 
 husband, thinking every one has heard of her distress, asks with 
 the utmost eagerness, have you seen ifiri ? O for more of this love 
 of Christ in our souls ! Observe here, the actings of a gracious heart 
 under the sense of Christ's withdrawing his comforting presence : 
 that Christ, for wise and good ends best known to himself, doth 
 withdraw himself, is a truth that has been experienced by all his 
 saints. You have not been long married to Christ if you have not 
 taken up the words of the church of old : " verily thou art a God 
 that hidest thyself, O God of Israel the Saviour."....lsa. xlv. 15. 
 How does this affect you ? O, say some, we do not live upon our 
 frames : your frames ! we are speaking of living upon Christ and 
 enjoying his presence: sweet intercourse, fellowship, complacency 
 and delight in and with him ; if you are content to live from day 
 to day quite easy, careless and unconcerned, without this, you are 
 got into a very bad frame indeed. It is most plain, your heart is 
 taken up with some other vain and worthless lovers : yea, it is much 
 to be doubted whether sueh hearts ever were in a right frame with 
 Christ"; for, to loving souls, Christ's presence is their heaven : his 
 absence causes a hell of uneasiness in their minds. Now here is a 
 sure evidence whether your heart is towards Christ or the world ; 
 your ftice towards heaven or hell. But do you say, it is the grief 
 and burden of my soul that I have lost the sense of my Lord's love 
 and presence ? If so, he has still left his love in thine heart ; he 
 still dwells there by faith : seek for him : enquire after him : was 
 he found of thee at first, when thou soughtcst him not ? He will not 
 live in heaven without thee : he will not let thee live on earth with- 
 out again refreshing thy soul with the manifestation of his presence. 
 Mark this gracious word to disconsolate seekers : " Fear not ye, for 
 ye seek Jesus.".. ..Matt, xxviii. 5. For mind, though the spouse 
 had lost sight of Christ, her soul loves him : still she says, 
 " iiiM whom my soul loveth." Here is the evidence of a heart truly 
 converted to Christ. In the darkest seasons, and under the greatest 
 distresses, there is love to Christ and breathings after him. " The 
 upright love thee. "....Song i. 4. 
 
 Ah, when of Christ we have lost sight, 'Tis he creates our heav'n within. 
 We should for him enquire, We hence his presence love ; 
 
 'Tis like a dark and stormy night, He frees our souls from guilt and sin. 
 To lose our lieart's desire. And gives us joys to prove. M, 
 
JUNE 27. 181 
 
 / riv7/ u-alli before the Lord^ in the land of the liiing.... 
 Psalm cxvi. 9. 
 
 Whkn the king confers the honor of knighthood, he bestows an 
 empty title and nothing more ; but -n-hen the king of saints calls a 
 poor sinner into his presence, he confers on him, not a mere title 
 of a grand name, but he dignifies him with a nature: he makes him 
 a new creature : these two different kinds of spirits are to be avoided. 
 1st. Such as under a great shew of holiness deny the fundamental 
 doctrines of grace. 2d. Those who make a vile abuse of those 
 doctrines : in the former, pride reigns : over the latter, lusts have 
 the dominion : David reproves both. Under the lively sense of dis- 
 tinguishing mercy and sovereign grace, he here makes a holy reso- 
 lution : "thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from 
 tears, and my feet from falling:" what then? Now all is safe and 
 well, I will flee to the tents of ungodliness, and gratify my lusts. 
 •Is this his language? No, nor his conduct neither. Many would be 
 ashamed to say so, but are not to do so ; b»it hearts truly alive to 
 God, under the influence of Christ, are as dead to this conduct as 
 to the language. 
 
 " I will walk," not lie down to rest in supine indolence, and indulge 
 carnal sloth; but be in motion and activity for God and his glory. 
 "Before the Lord." 1st. In humility, knowing he sees how imper- 
 fect I am in all I do. 2d. In peace and joy, believing I am accepted 
 in tlie beloved, my sins freely pardoned, and my soul fully justified 
 in the blood and righteousness of the Lamb: this is the walk of 
 • faith ; so we enjoy the sense of peace, the comforts of love, the 
 jealousy of fear, and the prospect of hope. "In the land of the 
 living:" amotig living and lively saints: not with spiritually dead 
 or formally alive souls : not in the land of riot, among the scenes 
 of vanity, upon the devil's inchanted ground ; but in the land of 
 light, liberty and love, where the sun of righteousness shines, and 
 "the voice of the turtle is heard.".. ..Song ii. 12. The loving 
 Saviour speaking affectionately to the soul : O believer, as you value 
 the sense of God's peace, and the comforts of his Spirit ; as you 
 dread a hell in your conscience, distress in your soul, the hidings of 
 God's face, the terrors of the law, and the tauntings of satan, be 
 careflil of your walk ; be watchful over your conduct : O study to 
 keep Christ in the eye of your faith : his love in the view of your 
 soul : his heaven in the prospect of your hope, and his glory the end 
 of all, looking and praying for his grace to enable to all this. 
 
 While Christ the Lord dwells in my Then, O my soul, forsake the ways 
 It makes me walk in love: [heart, Of folly, sloth and sin : 
 
 By faith I know I have a part, Walk now before thy Saviour's face, 
 
 In promis'd joys above. His grace abounds within. M. 
 
182 JUNE 28. 
 
 / stf'i' Up j/oiw pure minds, by :vay of remembrance.... 2 Pet, 
 iii. 1. 
 
 All the children of God are the subjects of pure minds : many 
 of them complain of bad memories : all need to have their mind* 
 stirred up, and their memories quickened. There is no doubt but 
 Peter had a pure mind, when he denied his Lord ; but he seems to 
 <lisplay a very treacherous memory, in sadly forgetting himselfi his 
 Lord, and his words. Forgetfulness of dangers causes one to fall 
 into them : forgetting our own -weakness to stand, causes us to fall. 
 Consider, 1st. What is a pure mind: that vthich we are all destitute 
 of by nature : "our mind and conscience is defiled, and unbeliev- 
 ing.". ...Tit. i. 15. Our mind is made pure, when our hearts arc 
 ■sprinkled from an evil or guilty conscience by the blood of Christ 
 through faith. "....Heb. x. 22. So that a pure mind, is a believing 
 mind, vrhich receives' the truth as it is in Jesus, in the power and 
 purity of it; and holds the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. 
 2d. Such pure minds v/aiit stirring up : do not you find it so day by 
 <iay ? Alas ! how prone are we to neglect, forget, and let slip out of 
 our minds the glorious truths and precious promises of our Lord ? 
 71ien we grow weak in faith, dejected in hope, cold in love, and 
 negligent in duty : this is not right ; it is an offence to our Lord, 
 and uncomfortable to our own soitls : it is neither a fit frame to live 
 or die in. When a fire burns dead, we stir it, to promote flame and 
 heat. Lord grant that our souls may not burn dead, but flame in 
 ]ove to thee. 3d. " I stir iip." Could Peter stir up their minds? 
 Doubtless, instrumentally. Beware of that cursed notion which 
 $;enders to sloth, because you have not the power to do any spiritual 
 act effectually, that therefore you may neglect the means. Paul calls 
 on Timothy, "stir up the gift of God which is in thee."... .2 Tim. 
 i. 6. He could, and so we ought, as those alive to God, use the 
 means and look to God's power to bless them : this is the genuine 
 actings of a lively faith. 4th. The manner of doing this : " by way 
 of remembrance." Refreshing the memory is stirring up the mind. 
 Says Peter, " I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to 
 do this :" we have all need of it ; we ought also to stir up our own, 
 and one another's mind, by word and epistles, of free grace truths, 
 e\erlasling love, and precious promises of God in Christ to sinners; 
 of his finished salvation for them ; the eternal glory which awaits 
 them, and which they shall soon enjoy in his kingdom : the Lord 
 help us thus to stir up each other's minds while in these tabernacles. 
 
 Come, christians, stir each other's We ought to help each other's faith. 
 Lest slothfulness prevail, [minds. And hope and joy in God : 
 
 O, thinit and speak of Christ's designs, Attend to what the Spirit saith. 
 Whose grace shall never fail. And spread Christ's fame abroad. M. 
 
JUNE 2?. 183 
 
 Bj/ one ofering, Christ hath perfected for ever them thai 
 are sanctified.... Heb. -a. 14. 
 
 We have two remarkable iHstances of Paul's holy zeal for the 
 glory of his Lord. 1st. Against a gross sin in the church of Co- 
 rinth : this brought a scandal upon the holy gospel of Christ. 2d. 
 Against a legal, self-righteous spirit which obtained in the church of 
 Galatia : this depreciated and dishonored the finished work of Christ, 
 and perverted the faith of his members. It is hard to say, whether 
 Paul's zeal exceeded most in the former or the latter ,• hence learn, 
 profaneness and piide are equally contrary to the faith of the gospel : 
 as a holy faith brings Christ and his salvation into the heart, it casts 
 out the love of sin, as well as self-righteous hopes. Here is a glori- 
 ous truth for precious faith to fix upon. O, that through the Spirit, 
 it may bring joy and peace to our souls. Consider, who are said to 
 be " sanctified" here ? 1st. Those who are separated and set apart 
 by God the Father, according to his electing love....Jude, \. 2d. 
 Separated, set apart and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, to possess a 
 holy faith in Jesus and a holy life from him. 3d. In what sense has 
 Christ perfected them for ever? My dear reader, it is for want of 
 faith in this that we feel so much distress in our consciences, so little 
 love to Christ in our hearts, and enjoy no more peace with God in our 
 souls : sin causes all this : but Christ has perfected us for ever ; that 
 is, he hath taken away all our sins, fully and finally from before God ; 
 he has so perfectly freed us from all the charges of law and justice, 
 that there is now not one condemnation against us, no more than if we 
 had never sinned. 3d. How has Christ done this I " By one offer- 
 ing." O the love of Christ in this offering for sinners who deserved 
 it not 1 O the willingness of Christ in it! "He gave himself for 
 our sins.".. ..Gal. i. 4. O the pains and agonies he endured for our 
 salvation ! O the glorious efficacy of his oflering upon the cross \ 
 He made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, 
 perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for our sins : 
 thus he hath once for all and for ever satisfied the justice of God, 
 appeased his wrath, and p>erfectly reconciled his holiness to us. But, 
 4th. How is the comfort of this enjpyed ? By faith. Is this true ? 
 Yes, says Paul, we have the most infallible evidence for its veracity, 
 " Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness to us."....Heb. x. 15. Then, 
 as we value peace of conscience, hope of heart, and love of soul, 
 we are bound to honor the spirit of truth, by faith unfeigned.... 
 1 Tim. i. 5. 
 
 For ever perfected by Christ, Thy off'ring once upon the cross. 
 
 To see God's holy face: Through faith doth sanctify; 
 
 This cheers with love, sin to resist, All else is but as dung and dross. 
 
 And run the heay'nly race, Our souls to purif/^. M, 
 
184 JUNE 30. 
 
 Bij one qffcrins:, Christ hath perfeded for ever them that 
 are sanel}Jicd...J{eb. x. 14. 
 
 My soul is caught ; 
 Hcav'ns sovereign blessings ciust'ring from the cross, 
 Rush on her, in a throng, and close htr round, 
 The prisoner of amaze ! 
 
 I beg this plea to be admitted, as excuse for a second meditation on 
 this text. O sinner ! if you believe in a crucified Saviour, you 
 are born of Cod, know the love of God, arc sanctified by God, and 
 are for ever perfected before God. All this flovi^s from the one 
 offering of the Son of God; bore witness to in the -word and in our 
 hearts by the Spirit of God: this, like every otlier blessed truth of 
 Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit's love and grace, is to have its use 
 and influence upon our hearts and lives. Lord, grant it may. Con- 
 sider, 1st- Hath Christ for ever perfected you before God, in taking 
 away your sins and reconciling your person? O then, with what 
 holy boldness and filial confidence may you draw nigh to God ! Hea- 
 ven is open to you : God rejoices over you, and he will eternally 
 receive you. 3d. Hold the mystery of this faith in a pure con- 
 science: answer every demand and every threatening of the law with 
 this ONK OFFERING : plcad your perfection by it to divine justice : 
 thus you vvill honor both the offering, the law which is fulfilled by 
 it, and justice, which is perfectly satisfied with it. 3d. Seek no 
 other^ look not to any otlier matter or thing within or without you 
 for peace with God and reconciliation to God, than the one offering' 
 of Christ : reject, with the utmost abhorrence, that proud, popish 
 notion of m.ore justifications than one : win that glorious one, per- 
 fected forever by the one ofiering of the Son of Ciod ; for any attempt 
 towards it is an act of the greatest dishonor, highest unbelief, and 
 vilest ingratitude to our dear Saviour. 4th. As you are for ever 
 perfected before God, be ever perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 
 While this faith is kept clear and lively in the heart, it works 
 BY the most generous love of Christ, and works in us the most fer- 
 vent lave to him ; and love is the very life of holiness ; love, and 
 live as you will : Tove, and go vvhere you will : love, and you will be 
 dead to all that God forbids and alive to all that he commands. 5th. 
 Let not the sight of your own imperfection and unprofitableness, as a 
 miserable sinner, deject your mind or distress your soul, so as to 
 cause you to let go the faith, that Christ hath forever pe rfected you 
 before God. What thou hast attained, saith Christ, " hold fast till 
 I come"....Rev..ii. 2a. 
 
 Amazing mystery! O, for faith We are for ever perfected, 
 
 To hold it in my conscience fast ! In Christ our head, from first to last, M. 
 
JULY 1. 135 
 
 / am not ash amed of the gospel of Ch rist ....Rom.\.\6. 
 
 Says Mr. Bunyan, "Of all the men that I met with in my pil- 
 grimage, SHAME, I think, bears the wrong name : this bold-faced 
 shame would never have done ; I could scarce shake him out of my 
 company; he would be continually haunting me and Avhispering me 
 in the ear; indeed this shame is a bold \\[\vi\n." ....Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress. Have not you found the same? Lord, pardon thy servant^ 
 that this shame still cleaves unto me. Lord, I am ashamed of 
 myself, that I ever should hs. ashamed of thet and thy gospel* 
 Lion of the tribe of Judah, drive away this sJiame fi-om my heart. 
 Consider, lst» Its origin. It is begot by pride. We are proud of 
 our good names, fair characters, our reason and understanding, 
 among the men of the world. If we openly profess the gospel of 
 Christ, and live and walk under the influence of it, we cannot do aa 
 the rest of the world does. Hence we shall soon get a nick-name.; 
 be called a Methotlist, and deemed a fool, a madman, an enthusiast. 
 Pride cannot bear this : it is ashamed of it* Then, 2d. It works by* 
 fear. Fear says, take heed to yourself: do not go too far : keep you^ 
 gospel to yourself: you will surely suffer for it : you will lose your 
 friends, character, and business : you will set all the world against 
 you, and then, how will you live. Hence, 3d. You see that pride 
 and fear are the cursed brats of atheism and unbelief: they banish 
 the Providence of Ood and the promises of his grace out of our mind^; 
 Hence it is plain, that faith, a living faith in the gospel of Christ< 
 will drive pride, fear and shame out of the heart, with, get ye to belt 
 from whence ye sprang. O, consider the dishonor it is to precious 
 Christ to be ashamed of his glorious gospel. Does that bring to our 
 souls the glad tidings of the pardon of our sins, peace with God, 
 justification before him, and eternal enjoyment of him through the 
 salvation of Christ? Did he niake himself of no reputation for us? 
 Did he endure the cross and despite the shame of hatiging naked 
 upon it as a cursed malefactor to save us? And shall we be ashamed 
 of him? Where then is our faith in him and love to him? It is one 
 thing to be beset with shame and another to give way to it. A lively 
 faith begets warm love. Then shame durst not shew his base head. 
 Without thee, O Jesus, we can do nothing. Through thy strength 
 we can do all things. Lord strengthen our souls in the faith and 
 love of thee. O suffer us never, never to be ashamed of thee, nnd 
 of thy cross. But let us ever glory in thee, and of thee. And, 
 dear Lord help us, that we may never be a shaiue to thee aiid thy 
 gospel, by an unchristian life, and unholy walk* 
 Vol. II. Z 
 
186 JULY 2. 
 
 Wash ftie and I shall be whiter than snow. ...Psalm 11. 7, 
 
 Here is majesty in misery: a king in penitence : a monarch 
 t)f the earth, at the footstool of mercy. David as a miserable sin- 
 ner, polluted with the complicated crimes of adultery and murder, 
 is here ascribing honor to the blood of the Lamb, by the pleading of 
 faith. Had you now asked Davi-d, what he thought of the pleasures 
 of sin? He would have read the most affecting lecture on its exceed- 
 ing sinfulness, and the exceeding distress, terror and horror it 
 brought upon his soul. Though invested with the govermnent of a 
 kingdom, ytt he could not command away its terrors from his mind, 
 hs burden fi-om his conscience, n©r its pollution from his soul. He 
 now found the words of his Son fully verified, "Whoso break- 
 eth an hedge, a serpent shall bite him."....Eccles. x. 8. He had 
 broke through the hedge of God's law, and that old serpent who 
 tempted hini, now stings and torments him. But when Nathan had 
 convinced David of his transgressions, so that he cried out, " I have 
 sinned," did not the prophet add? " The Lord also hath put away thy 
 3in."....2 Sam. xii. 13. Yes. Ne\ertheless, this penitential psalm 
 was wrote afterthis. From whence we may infer, 1st. That though 
 sin is put away by the Lord Jesus in the court of heaven, yet the 
 poor sinner may not enjoy the comfort of this in his own conscience. 
 3d. There may be true faith in the blood of the Lamb, that it cleanses 
 from all sin, and yet the soul left to cry out under the pollu- 
 tion of sin. 3d. A regenerate soul is as much concerned to be 
 cleansed from the pollution of sin as to be comforted with pardon 
 for sin. 4th. That true faith manifests itself in the heart, by its 
 turning away from every thing, and turning to that blessed fountain 
 opened for sin and uncleanness. Not my tears of repentance, but 
 thy precious blood, O Lamb of God, can wash me. Precious word I 
 **The blood of the Son of God cleanseth from all sin."....l John 
 i. 7. 5th. Faith ascribes the utmost efficacy to it, "Wash me and 
 I shall be whiter than snow." I shall be as free and as fair from 
 the least stain of sin in God's sight, as if I had never sinned : 
 " Without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.".. ..Eph. v. 27. Hence 
 learn, lat. As you value the sense of God's love and peace of con- 
 science, beware of sin. 2d. If you sin, llee instantly to tlie blood 
 of the Lamb to be cleansed and to no other remedy. 3d. Believe, 
 wait and pray. No power can forgive sin, nor cleanse from it, but 
 that Lord against whom it is committed- " If wc confess our sins, 
 he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
 aIlunrighteousness."«.«l John i. 9. 
 
JULY 3. KT 
 
 Tlie sorrows of a travailing xvoman shall come upon him: 
 he is an unwise son : for he should not stay long in the 
 place of the breaking forth of children.. ..Hos. xiii. 13. 
 
 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of 
 correction shall drive it faa' from him....Prov. xxii. 15. Though 
 God's children are made wise unto salvation, yet folly is bound up in 
 their nature : their conduct discovers it, and proves the necessity 
 of the rod of correction to drive it from them. Here is a threaten- 
 ing ; a charge ; the reason for it, and a most precious promise from 
 the Lord. 1st. The threatening. God loves his children too well 
 to spare the rod and spoil them ; " for whonr the Lord loveth he 
 correcteth ; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."..*.Prov»^ 
 iii. 12. Therefore, painful sorrows like those of a travailing woman, 
 come upon them : nature's pains prove nature's remedies. The pain- 
 ful visitations of love, prove spiritual remedies to the soul : they 
 bring forth abundant blessings. O ye children of God, beware of 
 construing love-tokens of afflictions into black marks of hatred. 2d. 
 The charge. " He is an unwise son." My dear heavenly Father, 
 what great reason hast thou for this charge against me ? O, in 
 how many ways have I displayed my folly ! Though thy wisdom 
 sees it, yet thy loving, gracious heart does not disinherit, but thou 
 saith, SON still. "Faith works by this love," all hope and peace in 
 the conscience, and holiness of life. o(\. See the reason of the 
 charge. " He should not stay long in the place of breaking forth 
 of children :" this was fulfilled in the conduct of the disciples- 
 Christ coitipared them to a woman in travail : told theni they should 
 "weep and lament, and be sorrowful," but adds, "Your sorrow 
 shall be turned into joy.".... John xvi. 20. Yet they were unwise 
 sons; they staid too " long in the place and breaking forth of chil- 
 dren." Instead of being delivered of their pains and sorrows, by faith 
 in their Lord's death, they indulged them : hence our Lord upbraids 
 them : " O fools, and slow of heart to believe."... .Luke xxiv. 25. 
 Do not you fall luuler this reproof also ? Do you act as a wise or. 
 an unwise son? Where are you? Has faith. in your Lord delivered 
 you of your pains, and brought forth joy ? Or, are you still staying 
 in the chamber of labour, sighing and sorrowing under bondage to^ 
 fear, instead of rejoicing as children of God ? This, is really the 
 case with many disciples now : they walk not in the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God : they do not in their minds and consciences- 
 stand fast, tiiumph and rejoice in Christ's finished salvation, but are 
 poring upon what they are in themselves. 4th. Look at the precious, 
 promises of your Lord, " I will ransom and redeem them," &Cm~.. 
 Hos. xiii. 14. 
 
■\H JULY 4. 
 
 T/iejojj of the Lord is your slrength....Nch. vlii. 10. 
 
 This is a precious, evangelical chapter: glorious gospel truths 
 are here held forth to us : Lord, help us to see them and feed upon 
 them, Here is, 1st. A solemn observation of the feast of taber- 
 nacles : this was appointed by the Avisdom of God the Father.... 
 Lev. xxiii. 3i. Did God solemnly command the people to dwell in 
 bootiis for eiglit days, but to some glorious end? No : Christ is the 
 substance cf the v.holc law : here is a shadow of him : here is typi- 
 fied (iod's beloved Son who was to tabernacle in our flesh, and all 
 the Fi\thtr's glory to dwell in him. 2d. "The people gathered 
 together as one man," So, '^Unto Shiloh (the Messiah) shall the; 
 gathering of the people be.".. ..Gen, xlix. 10. 3d. Ezra the priest 
 reads and expounds to them the law in the open street, (much such 
 another dreadful crime as field-preaching) the people were convinced 
 of sin and wept : the law ministers death and condemnation to 
 them. Here is the office of the Holy Ghost in convincing of sin, 
 and comforting them by faith. 4th. Ezra preaches the gospel to 
 them, and says, "Weep not, neither be ye sorry." No! Not when 
 their hearts were wounded by sin, the terrors of a broken law fell 
 upon them, and when they saw justice armed \vith vengeance to 
 destroy them? No: for, says he, "The joy of the Lord is your 
 sti'cngth." How so? A glorious vay of Christ's rich love and mar- 
 vellous grace to poor sinners beams forth here : see what is the joy 
 of the Lqrd ; our precious Lord Je:sus, the aqthor and finisher of 
 our faith, " for thk joy that was set before him (of saving us 
 miserable sinners) endured the cross, despising the shame. "....Heb. 
 xii. 2. Look untq Jesus ; meditate on this joy of your Lord. 
 Though he was to suffer the n:»ost excruciating pains and agonies 
 on the cross, be exposed to public shame and infamy as a malefac- 
 tor, hanging naked ; yet such was his joy in saving his dear people 
 from hell, to be glorified with him eternally in heaven, that he 
 patiently endured all, and cheerfully despised all this. O, such love, 
 such grace, such joy never dwelt but in the heart of an incarnate 
 God I Sinner, this joy of the Lord is your strength and mine : the 
 faith of this creates the highest joy in our souls ; and this joy inspires 
 our hearts with strength and courage against all our enemies ; for 
 w-e arc more than conquerors through Christ who loved us, and had 
 such joy in saving us. O, to think I am a poor, weak, and vile sin- 
 ner from day to day, surrounded by the most subtle and powerful 
 iocs, is enough to make our hearts faint, our knees feeble, and our 
 hands hang down : but, O the joy, the strength it inspires the soul 
 to know, " The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty."..., 
 Zeph. iii. 17. 
 
 Tlie joy which cometh from the Lord, It's reap'd by faith in his good word, 
 Owr daily strength shall be ; Who hung upon the tree. M. 
 
JULY 5. 189 
 
 Brethren^ give diligence to make your calliiig and election 
 sure.... 2 Pet. i. 10. 
 
 Work for life, say the sons of ignorance and pride. Work 
 not at all : Christ has left us nothing to do, say the sons of sloth 
 and licentiousness. But, say the sons of wisdom, we labour and give 
 diligence in the ways of God : not in order to get life ; not to be saved 
 for what we do; but to enjoy more of the life of Christ, the love of 
 God, and the assurance of his Spirit, that we- are his children. To 
 this Peter exhorts. Brkthrkn; ye who profess to believe in the 
 Son of God, and long to know assuredly that ye are the children of 
 God, " Give diligence." Do not rest in a few lazy wishes, colcf 
 desires, and formal duties, but be earnest, be active, be upon the 
 stretch for God. As we say, leave no stone unturned: study the 
 Lord's word of grace, dwell upon the ricli promises of his love, 
 meditate upon the finished salvation of Christ, confer with his peo- 
 ple, be fervent in prayer, strive against sin, resist satan, deny the 
 flesh, cry for the witness of the Spirit, Sec. all this, say you, is very 
 good; but I want power to do this. Have you a will to it? Then 
 the Lord who gave you a will, will strengthen you by his power, 
 ■while you are found in these things. Nay, say not you wish to be 
 happy in God, if you neglect to be diligent in the ways of God: 
 for what is this but solemn mockery of God, and sadly deceiving 
 your own soul? Consider the end of this diligence, "to make your 
 calling and election sure." 1st. Your calling : there is a general 
 call of the gospel to every sinner who is within the sound of it : 
 some rest in this : this is not meant ; but a special and effectual call 
 from a death in sin, to life and salvation in Christ ; from a proud 
 hope and vain confidence in ourselvciJfcid our works, to a lively 
 faith in Christ and comfortable fellowsmp with God. 2d. " Your 
 election :" this is a frightful word to many : they fight strongly 
 against it : as they believe there is no election of grace, they can- 
 not labour to make their own sure. The apostle leaves such to their 
 own carnal notions, while he assures real believers of this truth, 
 that some are elect, according to the foreknowledge of God.... 1 Pet. 
 i. 2....and urges them to diligence, to obtain the assurance of their 
 0^vn interest therein : so that you see, the doctrine of election, so 
 far from encouraging sloth, is the very spring of diligence and 
 activity. The Lord give us a right judgment in all things; for 
 this will influence to a right walk and godly conversation in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 Called to run the heav'nly race, My soul, nor tire, look back nor faint. 
 With Christ my prize in view : Look up to Christ for peace ; 
 
 I will be diligent, through grace, He will give joy to ev'ry saint, 
 With vigor to pursue. From doubts and fears release. M. 
 
190 JULY e. 
 
 Gitc diligence to make i/our election sure.... 2 Pet ^ i. 10. 
 
 Without election there had been no Saviour given; no salva- 
 tion wrought out: no promises made: no Spirit sent: no sinners 
 effectually called to be saints : no love in God to comfort them; 
 nor no heaven open to receive them. O, how do poor sinners fight 
 against their or\vn mercies, when they fight against the electing love 
 of God. But, says one, I tremble to think, if I should not be one 
 of the elect, what a dreadful thing would that be ? Not at all more 
 dreadful, but just the same as if there had been no election. But 
 what kind of argument is this against any truth? Suppose a pro- 
 fane sinner says, if there is a hell and 1 should be one of the damned,^ 
 what a dreadful thing would that be? What doe& this prove ? Peo- 
 ple are apt to stand in nature and self, and judge of the truths o£ 
 God: hence they have hard thoughts of a God of love. Behold I* 
 shew unto you a more excellent way: far better to give diligence to 
 make your election sure, than to cavil and dispute about what is a- 
 plain article of christian faith. Disputes seldom promote love; but 
 assurance of our election will. Your fear and trembling, lest you- 
 should not be one of the elect, is a sure evidence that you are not 
 stupid and thoughtless about salvation. It is "with fear and trem- 
 bling you are called to work out your own salvation, remembering 
 it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of his good plea- 
 s^ire."....PhiJ. ii. 12, IS. By his grace, study diligence to make your 
 election sure: there is no election to salvation, but in Christ. Sin- 
 ners are chosen, justified, sanctified, and saved iir him, with an^ 
 everlasting salvation. The faith of God's elect cordially receives 
 ?ind en^braces tliese truths, and lives upon Christ to enjoy the com- 
 fort of all this. Such a believing soul caiwiot but breathe out its> 
 sighs and send up its prayers for the Ifoly Ghost to bear witness^ 
 with his spirit that he is a child of God. Says Peter, prove the 
 sincerity of these, and that your heart is in earnest to enjoy this; 
 assurance, by giving diligence. Self-love may excite a desire after 
 comfort : but if faith works by love to the truths of God, it will 
 make you diligent in the ways of God. O the unsjj^akable joy, 
 when the comforting Spirit bears witness tathe soul of the Father's 
 love in Jesus; that I am a child of God, through faith in Christ, 
 that njy sins are pardoned through his blood, and my person justi- 
 ijcd in his righteousness: this is glory begun below, by a haaven of 
 Jove, possessing the sinner's soub Then he says, " I live by the faith' 
 of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. "....Gal. 
 ii. 20. 
 
 Thnulife of lives, life of my soul, Q let not sloth my powers coatroul, 
 Mt quicken tv'ry clay ; To run the heav'nly way. M. 
 
JULY T. 191 
 
 Men shall he blessed in him: all nations shall call him 
 blessed.... Psalm Ixxii. 17. 
 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, M'hich 
 are written in the book of the law to do them. "....Gal. iii. 10. This 
 curse God hath never revoked : every man upon the earth is natu- 
 rally under it: but the greatest curse is, men neither believe it, feel 
 it, nor care for it. Hence they slight and disregard ihat dear Man, 
 who was made " a curse for us," that we might be blessed in him. 
 Says our Lord, " search the scriptures, they testify of mev."....John 
 V. 39. Here is a sweet testimony for our mind and precious food for 
 our faith: Jesus, master, bless me while I meditate on it. 1st. Sec 
 all blessedness in Christ. Well might Luther say, " I will have 
 nothing to do with an absolute God:" that is, God without a media- 
 tor. O sinner, O saint, there is nothing but curee and wrath fur us 
 out of Christ: there is a hell of sin in our nature: the pride of the 
 devil and the lust of the beast dwell in our flesh. Spirit of (iod, giv« 
 us to know this more and more, to the humbling of our hearts and to 
 the prizing of our dear Immanuel : for in Christ there is nothing but 
 blessedness : we are blessed in him. Blessed be his God and Father, 
 whoHATH blessedus, with all spiritual blessings in Christ, accord- 
 ing as he hath chosen us in him before the foundationof thcworld.... 
 Eph. i.3, 4. 
 
 Here are precious foundation-truths of our blessedness : faith re- 
 ceives them, and works by the love of them. 2d. Not only blessed 
 IN, but blessed by Christ: as our covenant head he hath every 
 blessing for time and eternity to bestow upon his members. We 
 have nol only a notion of this, but the enjoymcrrt-of it. Christ is 
 the author of our faith : he gave us faith, that we might feed on 
 him in our hearts, have fellowship with him in our spirits, and have 
 all things in common with him which our Father's love can bestow, 
 to make us blessed and happy. 3d. Men, miserable, sinful men 
 shall not only be blessed in and by Christ, but shall bless them,selves 
 IN him. This is a sweet art : Holy Spirit, teach it us from day to 
 day : though we find ourselves vile, miserable and cursed, yet let 
 us bless ourselves in the Lord ; boast of him, glory in, and rejoice 
 for what Christ of God is made to us. Lastly ; men shall call Christ 
 blessed : the most blessed object their eyes ever saw, or their hearts 
 ever knew. The paper fails : Lord make up in spirit what is want- 
 ing in letter. There is no end of speaking, dear Lord, of thy bles- 
 sedness. 
 
 In Christ I am forever blest, Faith lifts me out of nature's views, 
 
 Tho* sill and law condemn me still : And judges not by carnal sense: 
 
 Christ is my refuge and my rest. When on Christ's love I sweetly mu?e. 
 
 Let carnal sense say vrhav it will. It drives all slavish terrors hence. RI. 
 
19i JULY 8. 
 
 God hath not appobiled us to wrath, but to obtain salvation 
 bij our Lord Jesus Christ.... i Thess. v. 9. 
 
 Here is a precious negative, a glorious positive, and happy 
 souls: Lord help us to meditate upon them to our profit. 1st. The 
 negative : " God hath not appointed us to wrath." St. Paul has in 
 his eye what our proud nature cannot bear to hear of, the sovereignty 
 of God : it is as though he had said we are all by nature children 
 of. wrath : we have all by practice deserved wrath. Here is myself: 
 the other day I did not know the Son of God, but persecuted him 
 and his servants. If God had dealt with us according to our just 
 deserts, we should suffer his eternal wrath in hell. Ls your con- 
 science convinced of this ? Do your eyes see it ? Does your tongue 
 confess this ? Does your heart fear this ? Rejoice with w'onder 1 
 that just God, who had a sovereign right, yet will not appoint you 
 to wrath for your sins : if you have trembled under a sense of 
 wrath, now rejoice at the sound of everlasting love ! For, 2d. Here 
 is a ^lorioiis positive : " God hath appointed us to obtain salvatiort 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ." Ye poor, short-sighted beings, who 
 talk of a possible salvation, of being brought into a salvable state, 
 of a conditional salvation cast upon certain terms we are to perform, 
 and of one knows not what unscriptural jargon ; behold and stand 
 reproved, for ye weaken faith, deject hope, and damp love in an 
 absolute, sure and certain salvation, appointed by God for those 
 who deserved wrath ; even the salvation, the finished salvation of 
 our Lord Christ : this, this is the blessed foundation for faith, the 
 spring of hope, the source of love. But, 3d. Who are appointed 
 to obtain it ? I hope we will allow the Lord of all, the liberty which 
 we mortals take of appointing whom lie pleases to live with him. 
 Us: 1st. Whom God hath pleased to appoint. 2d. Us, for whom 
 Christ di«d. 3d. Us, who are not in darkness. 4th. Us, who are 
 Ihe children ©f light, and of the day. These characters stand in 
 the context : are they yours? Has God, who commanded the light 
 to shine out of daTkness, shined in your heart to give you the know- 
 ledge of the glory of Ciod in the face of Jesus Christ ? Have you 
 seen such glory in the face, the offices, the work of Christ, that 
 you choose him for your Saviour, and trust him for your salvation ? 
 () fall down and adore sovereign love and free grace ! God has as 
 surely appointed you to salvation as he did Paul or any of the 
 apostles. Who shall disappoint God ? " If God be for us, who can 
 be against ua ?"....Rom. viii. 31. 
 
 We all deserve eternal wrath, Tlien vvliat shall disappoint our God 1 
 
 As the just wages due to 3in> Or ever frustrate his intent ? 
 
 But God appoints to all who've faith O magnify his name abroad, 
 
 In Christ ; salvation to obtain. And love and praise him ev'ry saint, 
 
JANUARY 14. 17 
 
 The khigdont of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent 
 take it btj force.... Matt. xi. 12. 
 
 We say, hunger will break through stone walls. Desperate 
 circumstances make men violent. Thus it is with a convinced sin- 
 ner. He sees himself in the city of destrucLion. And Moses has 
 set his house on fire about his ears, as Mr. Bunyan says in his 
 Pilgrim's Progress. Now, he cannot think of God, sin, death, 
 judgment, heaven and hell, with an air of indifference. No; he is 
 awake. He sees the importance of them. His soul is alive. He 
 feels the weight of them. He finds sin has destroyed him. The 
 law terrifies him. Death stares him in the face. Judgment alarms 
 him. He trembles to see hell moved from beneath to receive him. 
 Now his fancied good works, his morality, &c. stand him in no 
 stead. He hungers after righteousness. His apprehensions of wrath 
 make him violent. His hunger is keen. He besieges the kingdom 
 of God with eager prayer. He forces his way through every oppo- 
 sition. He breaks through every wall of obstruction with, O give 
 me Christ, or I perish. Give me his blood to pardon me, his 
 righteousness to justify me, or I am damned for ever. This is 
 fleeing for refuge. This is like one escaping for his life from dread- 
 ful flames and devouring fire. This is being violent. Such take the 
 kingdom of God by force. Though by grace we are brought into 
 the kingdom of God, and enjoy pardon of sin and peace with God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ: yet the Lord forbid that we should 
 so lose our conviction of divine truths as to have done with holy 
 force and violence. Soldiers of Christ, to arms. What! think of 
 laying down your arms and folding your hands to sleep on an enemy's 
 ground when all around are up in arms against you? Come, come, 
 there is enough yet before you to alarm you and to call up your 
 violence. Sin is within you. Satan is plotting against you. The 
 world would ensnare you. Death and judgment approach you. 
 "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which 
 the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
 shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and tne works that are 
 therein shall be burnt up." O, dream not over dry doctrines and 
 empty speculations, so as to be proof against the force of these 
 solemn events, and to lose your holy violence. For seeing that all 
 these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons oug+it we 
 to be in all holy conversation, and godliness looking for the comiog 
 of the day of the Lord.i..2 Pet. iii. 11,12. 
 
 Let UF ask the important question, Vain is all our best derotioh, 
 
 (Brethren be not too secure) If on false foundations built: 
 
 What it is to be a christian ; True religion's more than notion: 
 
 How we may our hearts assure ! Something must be known and fell. 
 
 Vol. H. C 
 
18 JANUARY 15. 
 
 Jflio remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy en- 
 durethfor ever.... Psalm cxxxvi. 23. 
 
 O MY soul, never, never forget these two things, thy Lord's 
 MEMORY and his mercy. The one was towards thee from eteniity : 
 the other endures for ever. What hast thou to do in this little spot 
 of time but to love, serve and delight in thy ever mindful, ever 
 merciful Lord? 1st. Consider thy low estate. Never lose sight of 
 it, never forget it, lest thou grow vain in thy imaginations and un- 
 mindful of thy Lord's love. At hell's dark door we lay ; lower we 
 could not be, unless shut up in the bottomless pit. Most awful 
 state ! O, tremble at the thought ! dead in sin. A child of wrath 
 by nature: under the curse of the law, and the power of the devil. 
 Blind to our danger, insensible of our destruction, not a desire to 
 escape damnation: nay, we sported ourselves with our own decciv- 
 ings; yet, 2d. he remembered us: who? Jehovah, Father, Son and 
 Spirit. The Father loved us from eternity before we fell. He 
 remembered and pitied us when fallen. The Son stood up for us 
 in eternity, and engaged to redeem us from our low estate. The 
 Spirit, with equal love, seeing we could never rise nor come out of 
 the horrible pit into which we were fallen, undertook to quicken our 
 dead souls, to come to Jesus for all the blessings of salvation. O 
 what love and I'emembrance is here ! Study it, O my soul, all thy 
 days. A whole eternity will be swallowed up in wonder, love and 
 praise. 3d. Mercy is the effect of this loving remembrance. Why 
 does God delight in mercy? Because God is love. Never look at 
 your mercies but remember they all flow from God's love. Consi- 
 der that precious word "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great 
 love, wherewith he loved us" (mind, great love is the cause of 
 rich mercy. See when it abounded to us and the effects of it) 
 '' erven when we wei'e dead in sins hath quickened us together with 
 Christ ; by grace ye are saved."... .Eph. ii. 4, 5. Therefore, 4th. 
 " his mercy endureth for ever." Some talk of the mercy of God 
 without scriptural views of his love. Hence they make mercy to 
 endure but for a few days or years to poor sinners ; then it comes to 
 an end, and the once objects of mercy become the subjects of God's 
 curse and damnation. So they give the lie to the Spirit of truth. 
 But his mercy endureth for ever, because the love of Father, Son 
 and Spirit changes not. 5th. Study to improve thy Lord's memory 
 of thee, and his mercy to thee. Did he remember thy person in 
 love in thy low estate, and will he, remember thy sins no more?.... 
 Heb. viii. 12. Then in thy lowest state of dejection remember him. 
 Look to him, and call upon him, that thou maycst walk worthy of 
 the Lord. ...Col. i. 10. 
 
JANUARY 16. 19 
 
 We having the same spirit of faith, accoi^ding as it is zcrit- 
 te?i, I believed, therefore have I spoken: ice also believe 
 and therefore speak.... 2 Cor. iv. ] 3. 
 
 Wk should greatly admire these phrases, according as it is 
 written.... according to the scriptures. If our faith is not founded 
 upon and agreeable to these, it is only a fanciful delusion. "The 
 same spirit of faith." With whom? Paul ever has his eye upon 
 Christ. He refers to Psalm cxvi; where Christ speaks by the 
 mouth of David. But what need had Christ of faith ? Never forget 
 that he was perfect man, like unto us: as such all the graces of 
 the Spirit dwelt in him. Faith in his Father's promises. Hopt in 
 his love. Delight in his law. Zeal for his glory. Holy fear and 
 reverence of his name. You see the whole chain of graces in that 
 word, '* who in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayera and 
 supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him who was able 
 to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, "....Heb. 
 V. 7. Here is faith in the ability of God, hope in him, prayer tohim, 
 fear of him, &c. This is joyful to consider, there is not a grace in 
 us but what was in Christ our head and flows lo us from him. '^ The 
 Spirit of faith." It is a spiritual gift. It is a lively grace. It is 
 not a dead notion in the head, but it brings the enjoyment of God 
 into the heart. If we share in the graces of Christ on earth, we 
 shall surely enjoy his kingdom in glory. See the genuine efl'tcts of 
 faith. We believe and therefore speak. Faith in the heart opens 
 the lips. We shall speak, 1st. To God the Father, as to our 
 • Father, with the holy boldness and loving confidence of children. 
 We shall delight to draw near him, to tell him of our sorrows, our 
 enemies, our sins, &c. yea, of all that is in our hearts. For like as 
 a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.... 
 Psalm ciii. 13. 2d. For the glory of God, we shall speak of his ever- 
 lasting, electing love, the freeness of his sovereign grace, and the 
 riches of his aljundant mercy in giving his Son to be our Saviour. 
 Sd. We shall speak of his Son's redemption of us from all sin : the 
 glory of his righteousness in justifying us from all condemnation ; 
 and everlastingly saving us from sin to holiness, from hell to heaven. 
 Lastly, we shall speak to the glory of the Spirit, of quickening our 
 dead souls and making us happy in the Father's love and the Son's 
 salvation. Such is the spirit of faith. Lord help our unbelief. 
 Lord increase our faith. 
 
 When we pray, or when we sing, With a fix'd habitual faith 
 
 Or read, or speak, or hear, Jesus Christ to keep in view. 
 
 Or do any holy thing, Trusting wholly in his dcatk 
 
 Be this our aonstant care : In all we ask or do. 
 
20 JANUARY 17. 
 
 IV ill the Lord cast ojf for ever? and ivill he be favorable 
 no more?.... Psalm Ixxvii. 7. 
 
 Paul speaks of some who had cast off their first faith. What 
 was the consequence? Having damnation....! 'J'im. v. 12. If the 
 power and liveliness of faith abate in the heart a sense of condera- 
 nation is in the conscience. Hence, poor sensible sinners call in 
 question the Lord's love and grace towards them. They are prone 
 to think they have quite tired out his patience, and that nothing but 
 wrath and misery await them. What shall we say to such? The 
 Saviour himself speaks to them. Is it in wrath? Does he say, because 
 you have forsaken me I will cast you off forever ; die and be damn- 
 ed for your folly ; I will shew you no more favor? O, no. True 
 they have deserved this. They have reason to fear and expect this, 
 was it not for the love of his heart and the grace of his word. There- 
 fore they may joyfully sing 
 
 T)ie love divine, which made us thine, 
 
 Shall keep us thine for ever. 
 Therefore love divine speaks. Grace is upon his lips. Let the chil- 
 dren of fear and trembling hear. "Rf.member from whence thou 
 ART FALLEN." Call to mind the loving days of thine espousal. 
 Then thy heart glowed with love and was fired with affections to me. 
 But how art thou fallen by the love of other objects from me ! I have 
 never changed in my love to you, nor in my dealings with you. 
 They were all in love. Repent: change your mind in regard to 
 your hard thoughts of me, as though I would cast off for ever and 
 be favorable no more. Change your conduct towards me. That 
 ever you should prefer idols, vanities, things of nought to me, 
 and leave the enjoyment of my love to seek happiness in them. 
 Cast off them, for I will never cast off you. Shew no favor to them, 
 for I will shew all favor to you. Do thy first works. ...Rev. ii. 5. 
 Search my word. Study my grace. Dwell upon my love. Medi- 
 tate upon my sorrows, sufferings and death for your salvation. 
 Attend to the preaching of my gospel. Come to my table. Come 
 to me as a poor sinner, deceived by sin, and betrayed by folly.... 
 Come to me for my promised grace, peace and rest, power and 
 strength to serve and obey me. O, may these gracious words from 
 our all gracious Lord, quicken the hope of our souls to take up the 
 prophet's words in spite of sin, satan and unbelief, ''Come and let 
 us return unto the Lord," Stc....Hosea vi. 1. 
 
 The sinner who by precious faith Not as the world the Saviour gives, 
 
 Has known his sins torgiv'n, He is no fickle friend, 
 
 Is from that moment pass'd from death, Whom once he loves, he never leaves, 
 And seal'd an heir of heav'n. But Iotcs him to the end. 
 
JANUARY 18. SI 
 
 / will make an everlasting covenant ivitli them, and zcill not 
 turn aicay from them to do them good.... J er. xxxii. 40. 
 
 A MiNiSTKR lately preaching on the tremendous solemnity of 
 the last day, at the close of his sermon thus addressed his hearers : 
 'f Most awful as my subject has been ; most solemn things you have 
 heard ; yet I have one thing more to add which is as awful. 'Tis this. 
 'Ere to-morrow's sun, perhaps you will forget all you have heard of 
 this solemn subject." Awful conclusion ! Is not this too much our 
 case respecting the covenant love and faithfulness of our God? Else 
 why those unreasonable doubts, groundless suspicions, heart-rend- 
 ing jealousies, ajul soul-dejecting fears which possess us? Else 
 whence that slowness of heart to approach the Lord, to cast our 
 care upon him, put our trust in him, glory of him, live upon him 
 and rejoice in him? The Lord will ever be mindful of his covenant.... 
 l*sam cxi. 5. But shame to us we do not reniember as we ought, 
 that we are the Lord's covenant people, that he has made an ever- 
 lasting covenant with us in Christ our head and representative. 
 He is the Mediator of this covenant. The moment we believe on 
 Jesus we have that one heart which is towards him, and we chods'e 
 him as our one way. This the Lord promises in the former verse." 
 Then we enter upon the everlasting covenant. This is said to be^ 
 made with us, for the grace of it is applied, the blessings bestowed^' 
 and the promises of it made good to us. But here is a future 
 prospect. The Lord gives one special promise which includes every 
 mercy, comfort and blessing our souls can wish for. I will not 
 TURN away from thkm, TO DO THEM GOOD. Lord make us strong 
 in faith, that we may give glory to thee for this exceeding great and 
 precious promise. Consider, 1st. This and every other promise is 
 in Christ Jesus. All the promises are in him....2Cor. i. 20. 2d. It 
 is absolute and unconditional in regard to us: for Christ our head 
 has fulfilled all the terms and conditions of the covenant for us. 
 Hence every blessing comes freely by him and through him to us.' 
 Our every plea for every promise and grace is for Christ's sake. 
 Most precious and most prevailing plea! A perfect atonement and 
 perfect righteousness faith has to present and plead to divine justice. 
 Therefore let us come with boldness to a throne of grace. 3d. WiH" 
 God never turn away from us to do us good? O, how should this 
 endear him to our souls? How watchful, how careful ought we td' 
 be, not to turn away from him to do evil? Lastly, we may bid de- 
 fiance to sin, the world, satan, death and hell. For if the Lord 
 will do us good what shall harm us ? If God be for us who shall be 
 against us? If every good is thus promised, heaven the chief of all 
 good is secure to us. 
 
2!^ J.\NUARY 19. 
 
 The very hairs of your head are all numbered. ...Matt. 
 X. 30. 
 
 I NKVKR can understand this, says carnal reason. Therefore 
 reject it, says hunian pride. What didst thou ever gain, O christian, 
 by indulging carnal reasonings or giving way to human pride? Verily, 
 many a sad hour, many an uncomfortable frame. O, how happy 
 doth simple faith make the heart! it receives every word which the. 
 Lords speaks, and draws comfort from it. It serves carnal reason 
 and pride, as David did his ten concubines. He put them in ward 
 and shut them up to the day of their death....2 Sam. xx. 3. For 
 verily they are like the spies which Moses sent out, " who brought 
 up an evil report of the Iand."....Numb. xiii. 32. Therefore listen 
 not at all to their suggestions. Our Lord never spoke a word to be 
 the subject for thy curiousspcculations; butthatthoushouldst humbly 
 believe it, exercise thy believing mind upon it, and derive peace and 
 comfort from it. Our Lord had been telling his disciples things 
 very disagreeable to flesh and blood. That they were as sheep 
 among wolves; would be hated of all men for his name's sake and 
 persecuted. Yet says he, fear not them who can only kill the body. 
 They cannot touch the soul. But what disciple is there who is 
 not subject to fear the wrath of man ? Fear of being hurt is natural 
 to us all. What can deliver a man from and set him above this 
 fear? Nothing but the power of faith. Here is the Lord's word. 
 The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Now you are 
 brought to the suburbs of comfort. Believe and enter into it. If 
 every the most minute excrescence of my body lies open to my 
 heavenly Father's eye, if not one of them can fall to the ground 
 without his permission, then carnal reason avaunt. Fears begone. 
 Men and devils do your worst. My loving Father stands between 
 your wrath and my soul. I am safe while omnipotence lives and 
 everlasting love changes not. Ah, but when I think of the hairs 
 of my head, I think of my sins. If the former are numbered, the 
 latter are all recorded; and they are more in number than the very 
 hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me....Psalm xl. 12. 
 Then let sense and reason be subject to faith. Hear and rejoice at 
 what thy Lord saith. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy 
 transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins ; return unto me, for I have 
 redeemed thee....Isa. xliv. 22. 
 
 Still with my God 1 leave my cause, Not all rlie puins that ere I bore, 
 Anrl trust his promis'd p^race; Shall spoil my future peace; 
 
 lie rules me oy his well-known laws For death and hell can do no more 
 Of love and righteousness. Than what my Father please. 
 
 a* 
 
JANUARY 20. 23 
 
 / have blotted out as a thick cloud thy trans^ressicms, and 
 as a cloud thy sins; return unto me, for I have redeemed 
 thee....Isa. xliv. 22. 
 
 Thus of miserable sinners God makes happy saints. Here is 
 the work of each divine person in the ever-glorious trinity. God 
 the Father blots out sins in the court of heaven: God the Son by 
 liis atonement on the cross: and God the Spirit in the court of a 
 sinner's conscience. Believe and enjoy the comfort of this. Now 
 may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing this, 
 and make us to abound in hope through the power of the Holy 
 Ghost.. ..Rom. xv. 13. When the dear >\omen came unto the sepul- 
 chre to see our Lord, they said, who shall roll away the stone from 
 the door ?....]VIark xvi. 3. But behold it was done. So a poor broken 
 hearted sinner says, this thick, black, impenetrable cloud of my 
 sins intercepts between my soul and the light of God's countenance; 
 it prevents the comforting rays of the sun of righteousness from 
 shining into my soul. O, who can disperse it? None but God. Be- 
 hold he hath done it, and he assures us of it. Look within and be 
 humble, look up and be joyful. Did you thii.k a storm of divine 
 wrath and terrible vengeance was gathering over your guiltv liead? 
 Behold, love speaks, grace proclaims, mercy declares I have dis- 
 persed the cloud: I have blotted out thy sins. Grace super-abounds 
 over all the aboundings of sin. A deluge of pardoning love, mercy 
 and grace washes away all thy transgressions. They are all dispers- 
 ed like a cloud driven away by the sun. What? all this rich love, 
 mercy and grace to such a hell-deserving sinner as I am ? and that 
 too without any terms and conditions, requisites and deserts of mine ? 
 Yes, all is of rich love, free grace and sovereign mercy. But be- 
 hold the end of this. It is to attach thy heart to a sin-pardoning 
 Lord. For he says, "Return unto me." O, nothing attracts the 
 gracious heart from sin, the world and vanity, to the Lord, like free 
 and full declarations of gospel grace and pardoning love. O, my 
 soul, return from thy backsliding ways, thy unbelieving thoughts, 
 thy jealousies and suspicions of thy Lord's love, unto hini. For "I 
 have redeemed thee." Look on thy sins, see thyself redeemed from 
 them by blood divine. Look to heaven ; see it purchased for thee, 
 and secured by thy Redeemer's righteousness. Now glory of, and 
 live like a son of God and a joint heir with Christ. O, may his 
 blood make all serene within. May that purge our conscience from 
 all dead works to serve the living God....neb. ix. 14. 
 
 Redeeming grace, forgiving love, Thy Sariour calls, my soul, return 
 •Tis a mo3t glorious theme ! To taste his pard'niiig love, 
 
 It fills us with the joys above, This makes thy frozen heart to bum, 
 God's glorf to proclaim. While praise ascends above. M. 
 
24 JANUARY 21. 
 
 Is not this the carpenter's son F.. ..Matt. xiii. o5. 
 
 " Such indignity I cannot bear,: such insult is intolerable." Ah ! 
 •who? What art thou uho speakest thus? Thou sinful dust, thou 
 proud worm of earth, look unto Jesus. See, the King of kings, the 
 Son of God becomes a mean man, the son of a carpenter ; yea more, 
 himself a carpenter, the son of Mary. ...Mark vi. 3. Mark his con- 
 descension; learn humility hence. Behold his treatment and con- 
 tempt. Learn patience and submission. Astonishing mystery ! 
 Let reason bow and faith adore. Sinner, behold with joy and wonder 
 thy God in flesh. Born under that curse for sin, "in the sweat of 
 thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread. "....Gen. iii. 19. He works at a 
 mean trade, and follows an ordinary occupation. O ye great and 
 mighty who are above trade, and despise those who follow it, saved 
 ye must be by this carpenter's son, or perish everlastingly. He is 
 the one and only object of hope and salvation, "lie is God and 
 man in one Christ. One, not by conversion of the godhead into 
 flesh, but by taking the manhood into God." Well might Isaiah 
 
 style him wonderfui Chap. ix. 6. He is so, both as God and as 
 
 man, and as God and man in one Christ, wonderful in love, suff'er- 
 ings and power to save sinners. Wonderful in his humility, for he 
 made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a ser- 
 vant. The Jews were "astonished at him, and said, whence hath 
 this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" Yet they were 
 ofi'ended in him, because of the meanness of his birth, parentage 
 and education. Exceeding foolish : so is judging of Christ by sight 
 and sense. But he says, "Blessed is he who shall not be ofiended 
 in me.".... Matt. xi. 6. It is the blessed nature and peculiar office of 
 faith, to pierce through the mean appearance of the humanity, and 
 to see the godhead of Christ. Here is the sure evidence of vocation, 
 "Though Christ is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks 
 foolishness, yet to them who arc called, Christ the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God.".... 1 Cor. i. 23,24. Now do you see salvation 
 finished by the power and according to the wisdom of Ciod by this 
 carpenter's son? Mean and contemptible as he appeared in the eyes 
 of others, do you see such matchless beauty, such divine glory 
 shine in his person and works, as to say, My Lord and my Ciod? 
 () beware of looking on this as a common call. Know it is of special, 
 peculiar, distinguishing grace. Give glory to the Holy Spirit for 
 it. Rejoice at the meanness of thy Lord: love him for it: all was 
 for thy salvation. Rejoice in him ; though to the eye of sense mean 
 and contemptible, yet he is "able to save unto the uttermost all who 
 come unto God by him."....Heb. vii. 25. 
 
JULY 9. 193 
 
 One mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
 Jesus. ...I Tim. ii. 5. 
 
 O, MY fellow-sinners, I heartily congratulate your soul and my 
 own for this blessed truth I Lord, help us to live upon it in our con- 
 sciences from day to day : for it is not a speculative, but an experi- 
 mental truth : it enters into the very essence of our faith, is the 
 very life of our hope, lies at the foundation of our peace, and is the 
 very source of every blessing and comfort. If we are not conti- 
 nually looking to this one mediator, Jksus, we lose the peace of faith, 
 the comfort of hope, the fellowship of love, and get into perplexity 
 of mind: then, we do not draw nigh to God with confidence, stand 
 before him with boldness, nor cheerfully walk with him in love and 
 holiness. Consider, 1st. A mediator stands as a middle person, 
 interposing between two parties at variance, to make peace and re- 
 conciliation: this Christ hath perfectly done : he hath for ever made 
 peace by the blood of his cross.. ..Col. i. 20. Sin M'as the cause of 
 variance between God and us : but Christ hath put away sin by the 
 sacrifice of himself... .Heb. ix. 26. Thus the work of reconciliation 
 is finished respecting God. But, 2d. Jesus hath a work to do with 
 us; for we are naturally alienated from God and enemies to him in 
 our minds: this is manifest by our wicked ways: but, says the apos- 
 tle, " you hath he now reconciled.".. ..Col. i. '2 1. Is it so with you? 
 Has Christ by the persuasive eloquence of his tongue, the affecting 
 oratory of his love, and the sweet power of his Spirit conquered 
 the rebellion of your will, subdued the stubborn pride of your heart, 
 «nd gained your affections for God? Yes, say you: but I am such a 
 miserable sinner, I fear God will not receive me; I have so much 
 sin in me, I think he cannot be reconciled to me and at peace with nie. 
 Nay, but if Jesus had not been a mediator for miserable sinners full 
 of sin, Paul had been damned, all the apostles in hell, and every 
 saint now in glory would have been in endless torment; all the com- 
 fort of Christ's mediation is enjoyed by faith, od. Christ lives to 
 keep up perfect reconciliation between God and us. O that is a 
 most precious word : " For if when we were enemies, we were re- 
 conciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconcil- 
 ed, we shall be saved by his life. "....Rom. v. 10. Look back to 
 the atonement of Christ on the cross ; look up to the intercession 
 of Christ at the right hand of a reconciled God ; look forward and 
 see heaven open to receive you, and the arms of a loving Father to 
 embrace you. 
 When sin and satan rae assauk, Christ ever stands before the throne, 
 
 And strive to break my peace: His precious work to plead; [pone; 
 
 I dare not say, I have no fault, Hence guilt and wrath from me are 
 
 But Christ shall me release. Christ brings the peace I need. M. 
 
 Vol, II. A a 
 
194 JULY 10. 
 
 Fear ye iiol. S'umi sliU and see the salvation of the Lord. 
 Exod. xiv. 13. 
 
 Now were the people of God in a great strait, even at their 
 wits' end: perish they must, to all human appearance. A wide 
 ocean is before them. Inaccessible mountains suiTound them. An 
 enraged monarch pursues them : death in various shapes presents it- 
 self to them: yet, for all this, says Moses, "fear not." Peevish 
 unbelief and carnal reason might suggest, what! not be afraid, 
 when inevitable destruction must be our doom? Why will Moses 
 talk to us after this mad, enthusiastic rate? But, in the view of ap- 
 parent destruction, Moses tells them of certain salvation, and com- 
 mands them to stand still and behold it : we do not hear one word 
 from Moses to soothe their fears or comfort their minds, from any 
 considerations of what they were in themselves, what good works 
 they had done, what terms and conditions they had performed to 
 entitle them to the Lord's favor, 8cc. No ; but they were at this very 
 moment indulging carnal reason and the nmrmurs of unbelief: 
 " Why hast thou brought us forth ? Better to serve the Egyptians, 
 than to perish here," &c. Hence observe, 1st. In times of diffi- 
 culty, in seasons of distress, when sin rages, conscience accuses, 
 the law condemns, carnal reason suggests, unbelief prevails, and mx 
 poor sinners are at our wits' end ; seeing justice pursuing, all hope 
 and help failing, and despair at the door, then the salvation of Jesus 
 is to be looked unto: in such seasons how doth this quell our fears, 
 compose and comfort our minds! But, 2d. What is it to stand 
 STILL and see the salvation of the Lord? Is it to cease from prayer 
 and all other means of grace, and, as some say, be still ; stir not 
 hand or foot in the way of duty ? No ; for, contrary to this, the Lord 
 ordered the people to "go forward." What is it then, but in the 
 midst of fears, in the sight of dangers, and in the dread of destruc- 
 tion, to cease from all self-confidence, to attend to the voice of the 
 Lord, to rely upon his gracious promises, and quietly to hope for his 
 threat deliverance ; for, O precious word ! says Moses, "The Lord 
 shall fight for you :" and what then? "Ye shall hold your peace." 
 How soon, how effectually did the Lord do this? He both destroyed 
 their enemies, saved them, silenced all their unbelieving fears and 
 imreasonabic murnmrings : they saw their enemies no more for ever. 
 Stand still, O soul, admire, adore, love, and confide in a gracious, 
 Avonder-working, sinner-saving Lord : look on thine enemies as the 
 foes of thy Lord: he has promised their destruction and thy salvation. 
 Rejoice to think of that day when thou shalt see thy Lord in glory, 
 and thine enemies no more for ever. 
 
 Stand still my soul, salvation view, Reject tliy fears, believe anew 
 Ab fiursh'd by tby J.ord, Tliy Lord's supporting word. 
 
JULY 11. 193 
 
 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, viij soul shall be joyful in 
 my God, for he hath clothed me ivith the garments of 
 salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteous- 
 ness. ...Isa. Ixi. 10. 
 It would be surprising to see a malefactor f^oing to execution, 
 singing and rejoicing all the May. But, if \vhen he came to the 
 fatal place, he should produce the king's free pardon, with royal 
 promises of being admitted to his presence, and appearing at court 
 in the richest robes of the king's providing, our wonder would 
 cease ; we should own that he really had abundant cause for joy. 
 Come, my fellow-condemned malefactors, though sin has stripped 
 you of your innocent dress of righteous clothing ; though you arc 
 under the sentence of death ; yet behold, here is a pardon for you, 
 the best robe to put upon you, and a sure promise of admission into 
 the king's presence in it. Read it and rejoice. Crack rkigns 
 
 THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNKSS UNTO ETERNAL I.IKK....Koni. V. 21, 
 
 The God of righteousness clothes us naked sinners with the gar- 
 ments of salvation, and adorns us with the robe of rij^hleousness, 
 which our heavenly bridegroom wrought out for us : this is the 
 blessing of being married to Christ by faith ; this is the joy of faith ; 
 this causes joy of soul, and great rejoicing in the Lord our 
 RIGHTEOUSNESS. When all sense of comfort and feelings of joy 
 in nature are dead ; yet, in Jesus our covenant head, we iiavc a never- 
 failing source of comfort, and an inexhaustible spring of joy: faith 
 leaves nature behind, with all its sins and miseries ; it looks neither 
 to works nor worthiness in self, but considers what Christ is to the 
 soul, and what the soul is in him, righteous, perfectly and ever- 
 lastingly righteous. O then joy, great joy springs up; see the 
 claim of faith, mv Cod. Though faith doth not cause the Lord to 
 become our Cod, nor adopt us into his family ; yet it claims that 
 peculiar and precious interest in him, which the word of his grace 
 reveals. The Father draws us by his Spirit to liis Son for righte- 
 ousness ; the Spirit bears witness that we are lightcous in his Son : 
 then faith makes the claim, boasts of it, and glories in it : then 
 Jesus has our hearts and our hopes ; our afl'ections are placed on him ; 
 our hopes center in him» Then we find our Cod in Christ; we call 
 him MY Cod; Abba,. Father: we are at peace with, and joyful in 
 him; we proclaim our joy in our Cod. Whatl clothed with the 
 garments of salvation, which we wrought not ; covered with the 
 robe of righteousness,, which we spun not, and not be joyful? O 
 . believers be ashamed of your unbelief, it damps your py : it 
 withholds the glory of your heart. 
 
 Rejoice, my soul, thy Jesus praise, When naked, poor, and destitute, 
 And walk before him all thy days i He fed and gloih'd rhae with rich suit 
 
196 JULY 15. 
 
 Every otic that useth milh\ is imskilfulin the zcord of 7'igh- 
 teousiiess, for he is a babe....lleb. v. 13. 
 
 This is a sharp reproof: as then, so now there arc many vho 
 need it. The word rendered unskilfi'i., inthc margin of our bibles 
 is, hath NO EXPERiKNCE. Christian experience is much talked of, 
 too little understood: many furnish out a loni? detail of experience 
 which they have had of one thing and another, but you can. find 
 nothing of the word of righteousness m it. It all begins in self, 
 ends in self, and tends (o exalt self. O, there is a great deal of 
 self-seeking, self-soothing and sel^complacency in what is called 
 christij^n experience: but real christian experience is that inward 
 proof or trial which our minds have of the word of righteous- 
 XEss; how the belief of it has brought relief to our guilty con- 
 sciences, ease to our troubled souls, and rest to our weary minds. 
 From hence, Christ the sum and substance of the word of righte- 
 ousness becomes precious, sin hateful, ourselves vile, our righte- 
 ousness filthy rags, the world contemptible, the path of duty plea- 
 sant, the way of holiness delightful, and fellowship with God most 
 highly estimable to our souls : this is christian experience indeed ; 
 but all experience which is talked of, that does not arise from the 
 word, is not agreeable to the word, and is not supported by the 
 word of righteousness, is fancy, whim and delusion. Many use 
 milk and are babes ; they are unskilful, have no experience of the 
 word of righteousness, God's everlasting, electing love and covenant 
 grace to sinners in Christ, his full and free justification of them with- 
 out their works by the righteousness of Christ, yet saving them to 
 all good works by the grace of Christ; the sovereign efficacy of the 
 Spirit in bringing them to Christ, and their certain perseverance 
 and sure salvation, being kept by the power of God through faith in 
 Christ. Though the word of righteousness holds forth these glorious 
 truths as plainly as though wrote with a sun-beam, yet such babes 
 cannot bear them; their stomachs heave against them ; their spirit 
 rises with indignation at them ; they can only feed upon milk and 
 pap like babes ; they wrangle and cry and puke like babes if you 
 pwt strong meat into their mouths : therefore, they cannot, they do 
 not grow strong in the Lord Jesus Christ ; they are content with 
 the first principles of Christianity ; they are not going on to per- 
 fection, and growing up into Christ Jesus in all things. O, get 
 beyond such babish experience ; prize highly the word of righte- 
 ousness ; bring all your experience to it : draw all your comfortr 
 from it ; judge of your stale by it ; be clothed with humility; fight 
 not against Ciod's sovereign purposes, council and covenant ; put on 
 that Spirit, and pray to the Lord, " That which 1 see not, teach thou 
 mc."....Job xxxiv. 32. 
 
JULY 13. 19^7 
 
 !^aul said to Davids thou art not able to go agaiiist this 
 Philistine to fight icitli Jiim : for thou art but a youth ; 
 and he a man of icar from, his youth.... 1 Sam. xvii. 33. 
 
 We fre(|iiently use the phrase, carnal reason : what do we 
 mean by it? Just what Saul here uses to David: it is the reason of 
 the flesh ; it consults the nature and appearance of things only ; it 
 judi^es of and determines events according to human probability en- 
 tirely ; it looks to no other or higher cause than nature and sense. 
 Now, had David listened to, and obeyed this sort of reasoning^, he 
 would have brought no honor to his God, nor wrought deliverance 
 for his people; but observe, O my soul, David opposed faith to thib 
 carnal reasoning, and by faith overcomes it : there is not one word 
 of the Lord in Saul's mouth; but David introduces, "the Lord, 
 the deliverer." Like Paul, " he conferred not with flesh and blood." 
 ....Gal. i. 16. But being valiant in faith, he goes forth against lii» 
 gigantic foe, in the name, relies upon the power of an omnipotent 
 Lord, and thus he obtains a glorious victory : most excellent lesson 
 for us. Christian, ever consider your carnal reason as a home-bred 
 enemy, a domestic foe that opposes your Lord's truths, with, how 
 can these things be? It disputes your Lord's commands, with, hath 
 the Lord forbid this? Doth he require that? It dares cavil against 
 the mysteries of grace, and wants them to be explained to the judg- 
 ment of carnal conception, or else cries, reject them as absurdities. 
 How often has this enemy put you to the stand when you should have, 
 followed your Lord ? How often caused your hands to hang down 
 when they should have been lifted up to the Lord ? How often caused 
 you to lay aside the weapons of your warfare, when you should 
 have fought the good fight of faith ? Treat it as an enemy to your 
 Lord's glory, and your soul's comfort : refuse it audience ; remem- 
 ber the antidote against it is, simple faith in divine truth : this brings^ 
 the enjoyment of God into the heart ; engages his power in one's, 
 defence; arms the soul with fortitudp against every enemy which 
 carnal reason represents as too formidable to stand against: yea,; 
 faith takes up this triumphing cry, "More than conqueror, in all 
 these things, through Christ who hath loved us."....Kom. viii. 37. 
 And boldly challenges, " who shall lay any thing to the charge of 
 God's elect ?".... Rom. viii. 33. O that little word elkct, how does 
 carnal reason fight against it 1 
 
 My reason proud resists my faith, This is a sin, we should confess. 
 And oft dejects my heart : And cry unto the Lord, [bless, 
 
 •Instead of trusting what God saith, With strength'ning faith our souls to 
 Our souls at dangers start. And courage from his word. 
 
198 JULY U. 
 
 IF/io is lids that cometh up from the wildeniesSy leaning 
 upon her beloved?.... Song viii. 5. 
 
 Who ! The wonder and joy of angels, the envy of devils, the 
 contempt of the world, because a miracle of grace ; upon whom 
 %!iines the glory of God's justice, the riches of mercy, the abound- 
 ing of his love, and the efficacy of his power. It is a poor sinner, 
 hopeless and helpless in himself, coming up from a dismal, dreadful, 
 dangerous state, leaning upon one who is mighty to save. Some 
 ©ver-rate christians : they paint their characters so very strong 
 and perfect, as though they forgot that they are in themselves no- 
 thing but poor sinners, whose natin-e is only evil continually : and 
 these people also under-rate them, not considering what they are in 
 Christ, new creatures, perfectly righteous, without spot of sin, in- 
 finitely glorious and comely in God's sight. Consider, 1st. This 
 wilderness: you are in it, and will be ctmiing up out of it, till you 
 get out of the body: it is your fallen nature, called flesh ; it is in- 
 habited by none but beasts of prey and devils of destruction ; curs- 
 ed sins and devilish lusts; there is no path in it to life, only to 
 death and damnation. Though you are out of it, as to your state, 
 yet you are really in it, as to your experience; therefore you are 
 still coming up from it. How? 2d. Consider this posture, leaning. 
 It implies weakness, weariness, languor, fainting ; yet aspires to 
 ascend, to get on and get out. Do not you find this exactly your 
 case? You are weary of the wilderness of nature and sin, long to 
 get out of it, yet find not strength in yourself to ascend. Bless 
 your soul, that you have a beloved to lean upon. He is your belov- 
 ed, if you take him as such. You will find him the beloved of 
 your soul indeed, if you lean upon him. 3d. What is it to lean 
 upon Jesus ? 1 st. It is to cast yourself, the whole weight of yourself, 
 sin and misery upon him, as having undertaken to support and sus- 
 tain you. 2d. To join or cleave to him and associate with him, re- 
 fusing all otlier props and supports but him. "d. To rejoice and 
 delight your soul in him and in the company of him. 4th. To 
 strengthen yourself in him and get strength from him ; just as a 
 weak person does by leaning upon his staff in his journey. Jesus 
 is all this to the mind by faith. Well then is he called our belov- 
 KD. What remains, but that wc prove his love by the faith of our 
 hearts ? So let us glory of him, and honor and serve him as the be- 
 htved of our souls ; till leaning upon him all our journey through 
 the earth, wc come to enjoy him in heaven. 
 
 I'll trust, and lean, and sweetly sing I have no strength, support or hope. 
 Of my beloved dear; But uli.it from Christ doth spring, 
 
 Tlio'weak, in want of cv'ry thing, Hi-; love does keep my spirit up, 
 He doth my spirits cheer. While faith's kept on the wing. M. 
 
JULY 15. 199 
 
 But the body is ofCJirist, (or is Christ). ...Cot. ii. 17. 
 
 There is not a greater instance of the depravity of the human 
 mind, and the corruptness of the judgment, than its seeking hap- 
 piness in the shadow of things instead of the substance. What i« 
 all created good but tlie shadow of him who created it ? Yet we are 
 prone to grasp at tfie shadow and seek to be satisfied with it, while 
 we neglect God the substance; but all, like a shadow, eludes our 
 embraces ; still we are restless and pursuing : it is just the same in 
 spiritual things: we are prone to take up, and rest satisfied with tlic 
 shadow of things, without the body, which is Christ : yea, so foolish 
 are we, that unless we are kept, even after we have known the sub- 
 stance and fulness of Christ, and see that we are complete in him, 
 we turn again to trust in the shadow of our own works and duties. 
 This is awful ! "But the body is Christ." 1st. Jehovah, Father, 
 Son and Spirit, have put the glory of every attribute and perfection 
 of the godhead in the body of Christ: " In him dwelleth the ful- 
 nes3"....no, that is not right: "all the fuhiess of the godhead 
 bodily.".. ..Col. ii. 9. God the Father says, " Behold mine elect in 
 whom my soul delighteth."....Isa. xlii. 1. God's soul can delight in 
 nothing but where his glory is. Again, "This is my beloved Son 
 in whom I am well pleased, hear ye 'him."....Matt. xvii. 5. God 
 cannot be well pleased with any one who is not like himself, perfect 
 in holiness, righteousness and truth : these, not one of all the 
 human race is possessed of: therefore, Ciod is so far from being well 
 pleased with us, as we are in ourselves, that he hates and abhors 
 us. But, 2d. Here is our special mercy, God loves us, he hath 
 chosen us, and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the body of 
 Christ : by Christ's body we are redeemed from all our sin^^, " For 
 he bare our sins in his own body on the tree."....l Pet. ii. 2 i. In 
 Christ's righteous body we are justified and sanctified : " \Vc are 
 sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ, once for all." 
 ....Heb. X. 10. Yea, "by his one oflcring he hath for ever per- 
 fected them that arc sanctified. "....Heb. x. 14. Therefore, 3d. 
 " Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness to us."....Heb. x. 15. This 
 is his blessed office, to glorify Christ to our view and in our hearts. 
 The Father calls on us to behold Christ and to hear him. The 
 Holy Spirit enables to this, and fills us with all joy and peace in 
 believing in the body of Christ. Here then things arc brought to 
 one single point : all our righteousness, holiness, pieace, comfort 
 and joy, are in the body of Christ. Are God and we agreed ? Has 
 God put all his glory there ? Then let us seek all our happiness 
 there. 
 
 O, my friends, let us remember. Each believer is bis member, 
 
 That Jesus is our loving head ; And shall on sin and satau tread. M. 
 
■200 JULY 16. 
 
 Adam begat a son in Jiis own likeness, after his image.... 
 Gen. V. 3. 
 
 Not in the image of God, in which Adam was created, but after 
 the likeness of himself, an apostate spirit, fallen from God into all 
 the cursed, proud, Avrathful tempers of a wicked devil, and all the 
 vile, filthy lusts of a brute beast. Awful difference between God's 
 creation and man's pro-creation ! Where can we turn our eyes but 
 we see the dreadful eff'ects of it ? The Holy Ghost hath left this 
 truth upon record for our instruction. Consider, 1st. That we are 
 begotten sinners, not created such by God. David confessed 
 this: '* Behold I was shapcn in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
 conceive me. "....Psalm li. 5. He does not charge his sinful nature 
 to God, and impiously demand, v/hy hast thou made me thus? 
 Ever beware of such doctrines which have the least tendency to 
 make a holy God the author of sin. 2d. See whence you sprung : 
 boast not of your high birth and noble pedigree: you are born a sin- 
 ner, under wrath and curse, and must shortly turn to ignoble dust : 
 " Be clothed with humility." 3d. Trace the filthy streams up to the 
 corrupt fountain : look not only at your sins, but consider your sin- 
 ful nature also: these are only the fruits ; that the root from whence 
 they sprung, says our Lord, " that which is born of the flesh, is 
 flesh. "....John iii. 6. Earthly, sensual, and devilish. I know, says 
 Paul, in my flesh or fallen nature dwells no good thing....Rom. 
 vii. 18. The flesh is part of you : never expect the old man to be 
 exchanged into a new one, or flesh into Spirit : be content to leave 
 it as you find it, an enemy to the Spirit : treat it as such : crucify 
 its lusts : resist its motions : subdue its desires : put off" the old 
 man f^om day to day. 4th. View the glorious method God has 
 taken for your recovery from your fallen state : O love and adore 
 him for it ! Does he repair, alter, and amend what is amiss in the 
 old creation? No; this very notion is a species of deism: but by a 
 new creation, making one nkw MAN....Eph. ii. 15. Even the Lord 
 from heaven becomes the Son of man, that we may be the sons of 
 God IN him. The Spirit begets us again into him: we are new 
 creatures in him : thus we are born again into a new creation : here 
 we live holy and happy, in perfect acceptance with God, and enjoy 
 fellowship in his love as our heavenly Father. As we see our own 
 vileness, we are commanded to put on this nkw man by faith, day 
 by day ; and beholding his glory, we are changed into his image 
 from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord....2 Cor. iii. 18. 
 
 Born into Christ tlie second man, Hence holy strife in us began. 
 
 We likve a iiutuie new ; Which proves us christians true. M, 
 
JULY 17. 20 i 
 
 Of liihom I avl ch itf. ... 1 Tim . i . 15. 
 
 What a mighty change does grace make \ Paal was once irt 
 his own eyes the chief of saints. If but two went to heaven, he had 
 no doubt but he should be one. Now he is really an eminent saint 
 in Christ, he confesses himself the chief of sinners. Why so? 
 Did he love sin, lie down and wallow in sin, and glory in sin ? No, 
 far from it ; he was now saved from all his sins : but he now sees 
 the exceeding preciousness of Christ his Saviour; the exceeding sin- 
 fulness of sin, which dwelt in him ; and the infinite holiness, spiritu- 
 ahty, and perfection of the law of God: therefore he makes this pub- 
 lic declaration ; not I have been, but I now am the chief of sinners. 
 He as it were stands forth and challenges the whole race of sinners, 
 and says, I will give place to no one : of all of you I will be the first 
 rate, and stand foremost in the rank. But is not this glorying in sin, 
 "which was his shame ? Self-righteous hearts think so; they cannot 
 come into it. When any sinner adopts Paul's language, and says, 
 "of sinners I am chief," they ignorantly reply, there can be but one 
 chief. Who then is that one ? Why every one who drinks into the 
 same spirit with Paul, has the same views of himself which he had. 
 For, 1st. They see sin, not only in its fruits, but as a root ; not only 
 its actions, but as a nature in which dwells no good thing. Such feel 
 in their nature the vile lusts of the beast and the cursed tempers of 
 satan. Though sin has not the dominion over them, yet sin dwells 
 in them. When they look at their past sinful actions, they take into 
 view their present sinful nature also, and therefore rate themselves ac- 
 cording to their views of themselves : they have done with self-admi- 
 ration and self-justification. I am the chief of sinners : I sec my- 
 self: I think no one has so wicked a heart and so bad a nature as I 
 have. 2d. Such from their hearts give glory to the holy, blessed tri- 
 nity. O how is God the Father glorified for his everlasting love to 
 such sinners ! How is God the Son's grace exalted in dying to save 
 them, living to fulfil the law for them 1 How is the Holy Spirit's kind- 
 ness magnified, in convincing them of sin, bringing them to Christ 
 to be saved from sin, and sanctifying them, by the faith of Christ, 
 over the power of sin ! 3d. Such, all such, and none but such, do 
 cordially embrace and comfortably live upon this faithful saying and 
 worthy of all acceptation (with the deepest humility and most inflam- 
 ed joy) " Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners :" there- 
 fore, as they are not under the power of sin, so they are delivered 
 from the pride of their own righteousness. A sinner's righteous- 
 ness! They are not ashamed that they should ever be so arrogant 
 and ignorant to talk of it, trust in it, or expect to be justiiied by it, 
 in whole or in part. 
 Vol. H. B b 
 
iOi JULY IS. 
 
 Let the lying lips be put to silence i which speak grievous 
 things proudly and contemptuously against the righ- 
 teous.... Psalm xxxi. 18. 
 
 The language of natural reason is, if I am righteous God will 
 love me. It is the language of faith, though I am a sinner yet God 
 loves me ; and because he loves me, therefore he makes me righ- 
 teous. How ? The pen of inspiration ansAvers : David describing 
 the character of a sinner, renewed by grace and made meet to dwell 
 ■with God, saith, "He shall receive righteousness from the God 
 of his salvation. "....Psalm xxiv. 5. Here we see plainly, that righ- 
 teousness is a gift; that it is received, not worked out by the sinner ; 
 that it is given by the God of our salvation ; it is the glorious robe our 
 elder brother, Jesus, wrought out for us, our heavenly Father im- 
 putes to us and puts upon us. God the Holy Spirit enables us by 
 faith to receive it, rejoice in it, and boast of it ; for, we see our- 
 selves made infinitely and everlastingly righteous in it. Here ob- 
 serve, the gift of righteousness, to make poor sinners righteous, is 
 an Old Testanient doctrine. Lord establish our hearts in this fun- 
 damental truth of thy blessed Avord. Jesus, master, enable us to 
 take comfort in thy one righteousness, and to give thee the glory of 
 this inestimable blessing. 
 
 Is it so, that thou art thus righteous in God's sight? Then thou 
 hast righteous hopes, righteous fears, righteous joys, a righteous 
 heart, and a holy life : yea, and proud contemptuous foes too. Their 
 1/ing lips will be openetl against thee : the adversary of all truth 
 w ill bring lying accusations against the truth thou believest, as sure 
 as he brought them against Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the 
 TRUTH. Stirred up by him, marvel not if men charge thee with 
 being an Antinoniian, an enemy to all righteousness; that they say 
 grievous things of thee ; speak proudly against thy faith ; contemp- 
 tuously sneer at thy confidence ; saying, liow absurd the notion, that 
 thou, who art a miserable sinner in thyself, should yet be perfectly 
 righteous in Christ f And, in opposition to Christ's glorious righ- 
 teousness, they will set up the sinner's filthy rags, and assert that 
 we are to be justified first or last, or somehow, by what we do. 
 What is thy duty here? Imitate David: give thyself unto prayer: 
 <' Let the lying lips be put to silence." How ? By the grace of Jesus 
 teaching thee to deny " all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to 
 live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world." So is 
 the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the 
 ignorance of foolish men....l Pet. ii. 15. " We are the circumcision, 
 which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
 have no confidence in the ncsh."....Phil. iii. 3. • 
 
JULY 19. 203 
 
 Save yourselves from this untoward generation. ...Acts 
 ii. 40. 
 
 Some, from a warm zeal for free-will and a strong opposition 
 to salvation by grace, have been weak enough to cite this passage 
 to prove, that we have a hand in our own salvation: because we are 
 here called upon to save ourselves. They might Avith equal propri- 
 ety have inferred, that we are here exhorted to new create ourselves. 
 But there is a sense, in Avhich this exhortation is peculiarly applica- 
 ble to every saved sinner, every justified believer in Christ. For 
 the honor and glory of our Saviour, and for the peace and comfort 
 of our souls, let us attend to it. Wisdom informs us, " There is a 
 generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed 
 from their filthiness. O how lofty are their eyes ! And their eye- 
 lids arc lifted up."....Prov. xxx. 12, 13. Now these are at enmity 
 against "that seed that serve the Lord^ and are counted to him 
 for a generation.".. ..Psalm xxii. 30. It was so from the beginning ; 
 it is so now; it ever will be so, as long as two seeds or generations 
 are in the earth : therefore, we are called upon to save ourselves 
 from this generation, for it is untoward. The men of this genera- 
 tion may have fine parts, profound learning, and shining abilities ; 
 they may occupy high stations in church and state : yet they are 
 perverse ; they deride the glorious gospel ; set at nought the pre- 
 cious Saviour ; his perfect atonement and one righteousness, they 
 see no need of; they ridicule the operations of his Spirit and call 
 all who pretend to them, enthusiasts. Glad are they, when they 
 can shew the untowardness of their nature and the vexatious dispo- 
 sition of their spirits againt them. From such, O christian, save 
 yourself. How ? Refrain their company, escape their deistical no- 
 tions, abhor their proud, free-will, self-righteous tenets ; defile not 
 yourself by reading their works ; it is like tryuig the effects of poi- 
 son upon a healthy body. Separate from them ; come out from 
 among them : so shall you save yourselvesfrom partaking of theirevils 
 and judgments. Know your dear Lord's enemies and save your- 
 selves from them. Know his friends and associate with them. Bless 
 your precious Lord for saving you from their untoward state : it-was 
 of his unmerited mercy and distinguisJiiug grace. O, when you 
 read of them and see them, reflect, such I was once who made me 
 to differ ? Thus you will get good by them^ if it sinks your soul in 
 humility and causes you to exalt the riches of God's grace in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 Dangers beset on every side, Born from above to walk with thee 
 
 From men profane, and sons of pride, By faith that I may holy be : 
 
 O keep me Lord, by grace divine, Then let it be my constant care, 
 
 And make me know I'm ever thine. Of men untoward to bev.-are. M- 
 
^204 JULY 30. 
 
 IVisdom is the principal thing; therefore get xcisdom.:.. 
 Prov. iv. 7. 
 
 In Joseph's visions, the sun, moon and stars made obedience 
 to him, and all the sheaves boued to his sheaf.. ..Gen. iii. 7. So 
 Avisdom is honored and exalted above and beyond every thing beside. 
 This ^visdom is the Son of God, " to whom every knee shall bow." 
 ....Phil. ii. 10. Jesus, under the character of wisdom, is said to cry, 
 to utter her voice. ...behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you. ...and 
 it is said to enter into the heart... .Prov. i. 20...2o. and ii. 10. All 
 this can be applied to none other but Christ, who is of God "made 
 iinto us WISDOM."....! Cor. i. 30. He cries after us miserable sin- 
 ners ; he utters his voice of love to us ; he pours out his Spirit upon 
 lis ; he enters into our hearts and dwells there by faith. This truly 
 is the principal thing : this, infinitely above all others, demands thie 
 whole of our attention, labour and diligence. Get what we may, 
 yet without this we are not wise; we cannot be happy; we shall be 
 only foolish, deluded and miserable : there will always be a va- 
 cuum in the heart, and a cry, what lack I yet? Get wisdom. 
 What ! Get an interest in Christ ? What can we poor, miser- 
 able sinners do to get that? It is a foolish phrase: it is un- 
 scriptural advice. Solomon reproves it, when he asks, "Where« 
 fore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing 
 he has no heart to it?.. ..Prov. xvii. 16. As though he had said, 
 none but a fool thinks his own works and doings the price of wis- 
 dom, and that by these he is to purchase an interest in Christ and 
 a title to his kingdom. Such have no understanding of the grace 
 of Christ, no real love of heart to Christ. He cries, " Come with- 
 out money and without price.".... Isa. Iv. 1. This is the way to buy 
 and to get wisdom. Seek to enjoy the knowledge of interest in 
 Christ ; labour after more and more experience of his grace, and 
 fellowship with him in your souls. Be not satisfied, not a day nor 
 an hour without tasting his sweetness and feeling his precieusness. 
 O Jesu, I am foolish, be thou my wisdom ; I am sin, be thou my 
 righteousness ; I am poor and miserable, be thou my riches and my 
 consolation ; I have many wants to be supplied, many miseries to be 
 relieved, many corruptions to be subdued, many graces to b© 
 strengthened, many enemies to be conquered : O, may I possess 
 thee in all thy fulness to night and for ever. This is the principal 
 thing, the one thing needful : "Let the ward of Christ dwell in you, 
 richly in all wisdom. "....Col, iii. 16. 
 
 Jcsu, thou my wisdom art. What are all things kerc belew ? 
 
 Make and keep me wise of heart : Foolish toys and empty show : 
 
 Thee to prize above all things. May I live above with thee, 
 
 Who to me salvation brings. And thy glory daily sc«. M. 
 
JULY 21. ros 
 
 Kiss tfie Son....Psabn ii. 12. 
 
 A SHORT command : for brevity, like the poesy of a ring; but; 
 comprehensive, like the book of God; for it compriseth all that the 
 scriptures require of us and promise to us: it means that we live 
 in holy love and walk in sweet friendship with the Son of God. For, 
 1st. A kiss is a token of reconciliation. Kiss and be friends is a com- 
 mon proverb. " The kisses of an enemy are deceitful. "....Prov. 
 xxvii. 6. Christ experienced this by the kiss of Judas. Though 
 sinners against Christ, yet he loved us : though enemies to him, yet 
 he died for us. The belief of this love slays our enmity : the breash 
 between God and us is made up : W'c are reconciled to God, " and 
 have peace with him through Jesus Christ.".... Rom. v. 1. How 
 did reconciling grace operate upon the heart of that vile sinner, 
 Mary; she kissed her Lord's feet, while with tears of penitential 
 sorrow she waslied them. "....Luke vii. 38. O, give the reconciling 
 Son of God this love-token of your reconciled hearts. 2d. A kiss 
 denotes congratulation. When Samuel anointed Saul, he kissed 
 him and said, " Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to 
 be captain over his inheritance ?"....! Sam. x. I. Thus congratulate 
 Christ, " who is the captain of our salvation. "....Heb. ii. 10. 3d. 
 It is a salute of joy. By a kiss we welcome a dear friend on return 
 from a long journey or dangerous voyage. What a journey did 
 Christ take ? What a voyage did he embark in for us ? After all his 
 agonies and sorrows for our salvation, he is arrived at his kingdom 
 and glory : and shall we not welcome and salute him with a kiss of 
 joy on it ? 4th. It is a token of great honor. Not every one may 
 presume to kiss the hand of an earthly monarch; some are permit- 
 ted, on being appointed to some place under him, Sec. Behold, " we 
 are made kings and priests unto God, by Jesus Christ.".. ..Rev. 1. 6. 
 What an honor to kiss the King of kings ! Lastly, it is a love-token 
 of consanguinity. Loving relatives express their mutual affection 
 by a kiss. Is Christ the loving bridegroom of our souls? Let us 
 arise, shake ourselves from the dust, and stir up our hearts to give 
 liim every possible token of love and affection. May we live nearer 
 to him, enjoy more of him, and be indulged with more spiritual 
 communion with him. May our souls ardently long to be with him, 
 that -with rapture we may kiss those dear feet that travelled and 
 were nailed to the cross for us ; those blessed hands which were 
 stretched out in prayer and nailed to the accursed tree, and bless 
 that loving heart which was pierced for our sins and salvation. 
 
 Wrth sweet affection let us kiss The more we think upon Christ's love. 
 
 The Son of God, our Lord, While in this vale of tears ; 
 
 And own it as our highest bliss, The more our hearts will soar above, 
 
 To live upon his word. And banish all our fears. 
 
206 JULY 22. 
 
 B}/ the rcord of trullu, by the poicer of God, bjj the armour 
 of righteousness on the ri<;ht hand and on the left.... 
 2Cor.\].7. 
 
 AVhat sign shcwest thou ? Shew us a miracle, and we will 
 believe you are inspired, says an evil and adulterous {generation. A 
 sign and a miracle ! Why, every regenerate soul is both a sign and 
 a wonder to carnal men : they are born from above ; they live above ; 
 their views, end and aims, are to things above ; they study to ap- 
 prove themselves to God, who is above. These words, though 
 peculiarly applicable to the ministers of Chfist, yet are true also 
 of every disciple of Christ : he studies to approve himself, 1st. By 
 the word of truth. What is that ? Where is that to be found ? In 
 Clod's book, the Bible. O, the Bible! Say some weak heads and 
 deceived hearts, the letter of scripture is not God's word. Find a 
 surer testimony of God and from God, if you can : Ave will be con- 
 tent to fix our faith upon this word of truth, for it testifies of our 
 beloved, who is the truth: he therefore bids us " search the 
 scriptures," and we find them lively oracles to our souls. As we 
 find Christ in the word of truth, we live upon him according to the 
 word of truth, and desire to frame our whol« conduct by the word 
 of truth : its doctrines we submit to. ...its threatenings we fear.. ..its 
 precepts we obey. 3d. " By the power of God," that accompanies 
 the word of truth to our hearts ; causes it to be believed in our hearts ; 
 brings joy and peace to our hearts in believing the woi-d; and 
 fills our souls with a hope full of immortality promised in the word : 
 it is reserved for us, and we are kept by the power of God through 
 faith unto salvation, according to the word....l Pet. i. 5. 3d. " By 
 the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left :" 
 What is this ? Not a fancied righteousness of our own : that is at 
 best but filthy rags ; a wretched armour, either on the right hand 
 or left ; none but fools would appear in such an armour; those who 
 do are the sport of fools, and contempt of devils. Not an inherent 
 righteousness which some talk of : what is within cannot be an ar- 
 mour for without, on cither hand. This righteousness has ne'ver 
 fulfilled the law of God, therefore cannot defend from the face of 
 enemies ; but the perfect, spotless righteousness of the Son of 
 God has: therefore, that can defend from every assault and every 
 accusation from every quarter on either side. This is the cry of 
 faith ; this the armour of the soul, " that I may be found in Christ, 
 not having on my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that 
 which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of 
 (iod by faith. "....Phil. iii. 9. Take the sword of the Spirit, the 
 word of God in one hand, and the shield of faith, the righteousness 
 ©f the Son of C;od in the other, and what shall stand against you ? 
 
JULY 23, 207 
 
 Much more then, being noio justified bi) his blood, ice shall 
 be saved from ivrath through him. ...Rom. v. 9. 
 
 All heresies are founded in pride and spring from ignorance 
 and unbelief of the Lord's word : some strike at the glory of the 
 free grace of God : others at the divinity of the Son of God : others 
 at his atonement and righteousness, whereby our sins are pardoned, 
 our persons justified, and final perseverance to eternal glory is se- 
 cured to every believer. Paul, under the influence of that Spirit, 
 who foresaw every heresy which would spring up, pester the church, 
 dishonor Christ and distress his members, here sits himself against 
 that pernicious heresy, that souls once justified and pardoned by the 
 blood of Christ may after perish under the wrath of God. Isl. 
 What is meant by being justified by the blood of Christ ? Just the 
 reverse of being condemned for sin by the law ; for his blood takes 
 away sin, which is the cause of condemnation. Christ's blood shed 
 at his death was the finishing stroke, and includes his whole work as 
 our Saviour : he made that full satisfaction to law and justice, for 
 which sinners are freed from condenmation by the one and pro- 
 nounced just by the other : they are once for all and for ever justified 
 in God's sight : for though God sees sin in them, yet they are for 
 ever justified from it in his beloved Son. 2d. Who are thus justi- 
 fied ? Sinners who believe on the Son of God, whether they have the 
 sense and comfort of it in their own consciences or not : for they now 
 receive the atonement of Christ into their hearts by faith. Faith 
 urges them to plead and not rest satisfied till they find the peace of 
 God in their consciences, flowing from justification in Christ's blood. 
 But, Sd. May not such perish at last under the wrath of God ? No, 
 says Paul, that is impossible. Much more, mind those precious 
 words, "being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved, "....as 
 though he had said, what, did the Son of God shed his blood in 
 vain ? Has he called us and justified us before God through faith in 
 his blood ? And has he now no love to us, nor care for us ? Will he 
 after all this grace leave us to perish under w rath ? No : as we arc 
 actually justified by his blood, we shall be eternally saved from w rath 
 through him: his precious blood can never loose its efficacy; his 
 gracious heart never abate in love ; his almighty arm can never lose 
 its power. As Christ died to redeem from all sin, he lives to save 
 from all wrath : this is the faith of God's elect : this faith works by 
 love of the truth, and in rejecting all self-righteous errors ; and as 
 the soul is comforted by this love, love inspires to all cheerful obedi- 
 ence. 
 
 When Jesus on the cross did bleed, And they in him were justify'd. 
 
 He represented all his seed. And this by faith's to them apjilv 'd. M. 
 
208 JULY 21. 
 
 Thai in all (kings Christ might have the pre-eminence.... 
 Col. i. 18. 
 
 We cannot be happy till this truth is brought into the experi- 
 ence of our hearts. The regenerate soul is ever at war with the flesh, 
 for it opposes the pre-eminence of Christ ; and is also at war against 
 the proud notions of profane as well as self-righteous men, who re- 
 ject Christ our precious head, from having the pre-eminence in 
 the salvation of the body : they put him in subordination in many 
 things, instead of giving him the pre-eminence in all things. 
 When our Lord says, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,".... 
 John V. 17. ...some poor sinners become bold intruders, and add, 
 " Lo, we work also, and our works must have some part in our sal- 
 vation." Well, it will be so till the law of works, which has the 
 pre-eminence in their hearts, kills their legal hopes and self-righte- 
 ous confidence. Soul, can you say with Paul ? " I through the law, 
 am dead to the law. "....Gal. ii. 19. Are you married to Christ by 
 faith ? Then you have seen that you are totally destroyed in the old 
 creation ; and are a mere cypher, an insignificant nothing in the 
 work of a new" creation. Here Christ is all in all. As a chaste 
 and loving bride, you will glory in and exalt your beloved bride- 
 groom above all things. 1st. You will give him the pre-eminence 
 in your heart. It is said of the late king George, when he chose 
 to keep his nobles at a distance, he used to say, "the king is at home 
 to-day:" so whenever any bold intruders from the world, the flesh, 
 or the devil, solicit admittance, you will say, " King Jesus is on his 
 throne to-day :" he has the pre-eminence within: my affections are 
 set on him : there is no room for you. 2d. Of your hopes. Does 
 salan accuse ? We overcome satan by the blood of the l^amb, and 
 by our testimony of Jesus.. ..Rev. xii. II. Does the law condemn? 
 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a 
 curse for us."....Gal. iii. 13. Is conscience distressed? "His blood 
 sprinkles our hearts from an evil conscience."....Heb. x. 22. His 
 work "makes perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.".. ..Heb. 
 ix. 9. " His blood purges our conscience from dead works, to 
 serve the living God.".... Heb. ix. 14. Thus Christ has the pre-emi- 
 nence in all things pertaining to our conscience and our hopes : for 
 we arc fully assured, " God iiath made us accepted in the beloved.".... 
 Eph. i. 6. 3d. In our lives. We are not urider the law, therefore 
 ■we have done with all legal striving to fulfil it, that we may be jus- 
 tified by and saved for what we do: but we are under the grace of 
 Christ ; this lias the pre-eminence over our walk ; we live under the 
 influence of lovt; wc walk with Christ's salvation in our hearts. 
 
JULY 2S* 20? 
 
 Not by zvorks of righteousness zvhich ive have done, but 
 according to his mercy he saved us, by the ivashing of 
 regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. ...Tit. 
 iii. 5. 
 " Shew us a miracle and we will believe you are inspired, say- 
 carnal men. We can, but they have not eyes to see it. Blessed be 
 God, miracles are not ceased : the Lord works miracles of grace 
 daily : every regenerate sinner is a miracle of God the Father's 
 mercy, of God the Son's grace, and of God the Holy Spirit's power: 
 his humble language proclaims it; I stand forth and declare, that I 
 was a vile sinner, condemned by the law of God, and justly deserving 
 the damnation of hell, yet full of the pride of my own works and 
 confident of salvation by my own righteousness ; but God, by an act 
 of sovereign mercy, has saved me from the power of sin and a vain, 
 confident hope in my own righteousness. "Not by works which we 
 have done." Our works are out of the question ; for all boasting is 
 excluded: yet the notion of absolute mercy in God to any sinner, 
 without respect to works of righteousness performed by man to fulfil 
 the law of God, is absurd and unscriptural ; it is to be rejected as 
 contrary to the attributes and perfections of the Godhead : therefore, 
 we are saved by mercy, according to works of righteousness ; but 
 not which we have done. No : but what Jesus our law-fulfilling 
 head hath done for us: he hath fully obeyed the commands of the 
 holy law, perfectly satisfied the demands of strict justice; hence the 
 mercy of the Holy Spirit flows to us. Jesus saves us from the curse 
 of the law and the wrath of justice: the Spirit saves us from the 
 blindness of our understanding, the rebellion of our will, and the 
 carnality of our affections. Pause, O my soul I Fall down and adore 
 his rich mercy, that snatched thee from hell and saved thee to hea- 
 ven: yes, into the heaven of the love of the Father, Son and Spirit. 
 My soul is formed for it: I have suitable dispositions to it. How ? 
 " By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
 As water separates the filth from the thing washed and makes it clean, 
 so the Spirit separates us from the love of sin, our pride, self-righte- 
 ousness and aversion to Christ and his salvation ; begetting us again 
 from our old natural false hope, to a new and lively hope of salvation 
 by the death and resurrection of Jesus, by the word through faith ; 
 renewing us hereby in the Spirit of our mind, making us new crea- 
 tures in Christ. So that salvation is not by reforming and amending 
 our old nature ; that is left just as it was: but begetting us anew in 
 Christ, that we might live and walk in him to the glory of God. 
 Our old nature is subjected to grace : " Christ is in us the hope of 
 glory."....Col. i. 27. 
 
 Vol. n. C c 
 
210 JULY 26. 
 
 This is his commandment^ that ice should believe on the 
 name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love o?ie another.... 
 iJohn iii. 23. 
 Wh'-:n a weary traveller has lost his way, what joy must the 
 sight of a directory afford him ? How must his joy be increased, if it 
 informs him he is near a dear friend's house, who will kindly receive 
 him ? Weary pilgrim, look at this directory and rejoice : you are 
 near a dear friend, who will kindly receive and heartily welcome you. 
 Obey this command, and enjoy the conifort. Consider, 1st. Who 
 commands. (iod the Father, of heaven ; that God against whom 
 you have sinned, and by sin are become miserable : he would hare 
 you be both holy and happy ; you can be neither without believing: 
 both are enjoyed in faith. 2d. The command: BtuiEvE. By the 
 ten commandments you are condemned ; you are brought in guilty 
 by them ; the law ministers nothing but wrath and condemnation. 
 God be merciful to us miserable sinners : God shews us mercy. O, 
 the love and grace of the law-gi\ er ! He here gives us one command, 
 which ministers life and salvation to our guilty souls: only believe: 
 you mourn under a sense of sin, are dejected for want of peace, and 
 distressed for want of comfort : you look one way and another : you 
 strive to do this and that : you pray, read, hear, communicate, &c. 
 still your soul is not happy and joyful. Why not ? Because you do 
 not obey your Father's command, believe. 3d. Consider the ob- 
 ject of faith : " The name of his Son Jesus Christ." God the Father 
 doth not command, believe on me, come to me, but only as he is in 
 Christ : therefore he says, " hear my beloved Son.".. ..Mark ix. 7. 
 Believe on him : go to him : receive him : look to him : venture 
 your souls on him : constantly and continually exercise your minds 
 on him, for all salvation : so shall you enjoy my peace, my favor and 
 my love. All centers in his name, Jesus; your sin-bearing, sin- 
 atoning, curse-suffering, law-fulfilling Saviour. Christ: anointed, 
 sent and appointed by God the Father, to do and suffer his will ; to 
 finish your salvation, and to save and make you happy every moment, 
 in the sense of the Father's reconciled love in hiji. 4th. Who are 
 commanded thus to believe ? Sinners, lost and perishing sinners, 
 who have no righteousness to justify, no strcngtli to save themselves. 
 This is your character and mine, and will be so all through life : 
 therefore this command is ever to be obeyed by us. Are you in a 
 doubling, fearing, condemned, dark, distressed frame ? Your Fa- 
 ther's loving command just suits you : obey him : believe in his Son, 
 for light, joy and peace, and they shall spring up in your conscience : 
 then love shall prevail in your soul to God and to his children. This 
 is the prayer of faith, " Lord increase our faith.". ...Luke xvii. 5. 
 
JULY 27. 211 
 
 Bui ye have not so learned Christ..,. Kph. iv. 20. 
 
 Believe and live as you will: love and walk as you please. 
 Will any say, this is fine licentious doctrines? We answer, such do 
 not know nor consider the power of faith, nor the influence of Christ's 
 love: they are strangers to his teaching. Christians are his scho- 
 lars: Christ is our one master: he graciously condescends to teach 
 us: he kindly says, " learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart" 
 to instruct you. ...Malt. xi. 29. Our grand business is, to sit at 
 his feet. We have no just ideas of the sinfulness of sin, the vile- 
 ness of our nature, nor the preciousness of his person, but what 
 we learn of him. Christian, what hast thou learned of Christ this 
 day? If thou hast not learned somewhat of the heinous nature of 
 sin, so as to abhor it, and of the preciousness of Christ's person and 
 salvation, so as to cleave to him, verily, thou hast lost a day : thou 
 didst not so learn Christ; fortius is his word daily to thee, come 
 
 UNTO WE. 
 
 1st. When the pleasures of sin invite ; when these trinity of idols, 
 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, de- 
 mand to be gratified, what is your answer? Is it not ? My soul ab- 
 hors them, my life shall be prevailingly free from them ; 1 have not 
 so learned Christ as to indulge them ; I have learned so much of 
 his precious love, as to desire to be wholly, solely and eternally 
 devoted to his glory. 2d. Have you been bearing your sins and 
 carrying your sorrows to-day ? Verily, you take too much upon you ; 
 •ye have not so learned Christ. Surely, he hath done this for you, 
 that you should be eased of their burden and find rest in him : "all 
 ye that labour and ai-e heavy laden, come unto mc, and I will give 
 you rest.". ...Matt. xi. 28. This is his sweet voice, " let not your 
 hearts be troubled." This is his precious command, "believe in 
 ine."....John xiv. 1. 3d. Have you been this day folding your hands 
 in dejection, full of doubts and fears, and your hope at the last gasp ? 
 You have not so learned Christ : for he saith to the fearful heart, 
 "be strong: fear not."....Isa. xxxv. 4. Again, " fear not, for I am 
 with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen 
 thee, yea, I will help thee : yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand 
 my righteousness. "....Isa. xli. IQ. Daily learn to exalt Christ's 
 words against all your sorrows j lus righteousness against all your 
 sins; his salvation against all your demerits; his promises against 
 all your fears; and his truths against all satan's lying suggestions. 
 See the blessedness of thus learning Christ ; " great sball be thy 
 peace: in righteousness shalt thou be established: fear and terror 
 shall not come near thee.".. ..Isa. liv. 13, 14. 
 
212 JULY 28. 
 
 Said anszvered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines 
 make xvar against vie, and God is departed from vie 
 ....1 Savi. xxviii. 15. 
 
 A MORE awful speech is scarce to be found in the Bible: a 
 more dreadful state a soul cannot be in en this side of hell : to have 
 potent enemies in buttle array ; to have the guilt of abominable sins 
 staring one in the face ; and to be sensible that the Lord is departed 
 from one, how horrid to think of ! O, come here and see the terri- 
 ble effects of trifling with God and disobeying his commands I For 
 ■we read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Sj^ul ; that God gave 
 him another heart ; that he was turned into another man ; and that 
 he prophesied....! Sam. x. 6. And yet, such was his dreadful con- 
 duct, as to bring upon himself such sore distress. How does he 
 act under it? Does he humble himself as heretofore before the Lord ? 
 No : but adds this evil to all his abominations ; he seeks to the witch 
 of Endor, desires her to raise up Samuel to him : the form of 
 Samuel appears, and tells him of his sudden destruction by the 
 Philistines. Learn hence, 1st. That as the Lord's mercies are sure, 
 so also are his judgments: though he may delay for a season, yet a 
 day of vengeance will surely overtake every impeninent, sin-harden- 
 ed soul: though it was long before, that Saul disobeyed the Lord's 
 command, in not totally destroying his enemies, the Amalekites ; yet 
 the Lord had neither forgotten it nor forgiven him. 2d. See how a sin- 
 hardened soul acts ; not like David, who goes to the Lord with an 
 humble heart, a broken spirit, and a sorrowful cry, " O Lord pardon 
 mine iniquity, for it is great."....Psalm xxv. 1 l....but like Saul, who 
 applied to the devil for relief. 3d. We do not hear one word from 
 Saul of the cause of his distress, sin : his eyes were so blinded by 
 it that he saw not the evil of it : his heart was so hardened by its 
 deceitfulness, that he felt no sorrow in his soul on account of it ; 
 for the Lord was departed from him. O, that we may dread and 
 deprecate this. But let not any sin-distressed, broken hearted sin- 
 ner, write bitter things against himself, from hence; for, if sin 
 causes sorrow of heart and mourning of soul, and excites a cry, 
 God be merciful to me....save Lord Jesus or I perish : the Lord is 
 not departed from that soul: it is not hardened through the deceit- 
 fulness of sin. O, love the Lord for that : praise him for his grace 
 which keeps you from that; and that his promises still invite and 
 encourage you : " for if any man sin, we have an advocate with the 
 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and his blood cleanseth from 
 all sin.".... I Johni. 7. and ii. 1. 
 
 With jealous heart and godly fear, May other's evils warn my soul, 
 
 O may I walk before the Lord: The dang'rous paths of sin to flee : 
 
 This will prevent the falling tear, Let gen'rous love my soul controul. 
 
 And love and joy and peace afford. In sweet obedience, Lord, to thee. M. 
 
JULY 29. 213 
 
 The ansiver of a good conscience towaj'ds, God, by the 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ....! Pet. iii. 21. 
 
 The grand business of faith is, to give being and subsistence to 
 divine truths in the mind....Heb. xi. 1. Hence, conscience gets re- 
 lief and peace, and the soul is made happy. Consider, 1st. What is 
 conscience? Science is knowledge: pre-science is fore-knowledge. 
 Conscience is something joined with knowledge: "Some have their 
 conscience defiled. ".... Tit. i. 15. With what? The guilt of their 
 sins. Some are said, "to be sprinkled from an evil, or guilty con- 
 science.".... Hcb. x. 23. With what? The blood of Christ: there- 
 fore, in respect to a good or bad conscience, something must be 
 joined with the science or knowledge of the mind to determine it by. 
 In this sense the word conscience is used in scripture. Hence, 
 2d. We may easily see what is the answer of a good conscience 
 before God. Join the law of God with your science, or knowledge 
 of yourself. What report will conscience make ? The law condemns : 
 conscience pleads guilty : it has got evil in it. Hence you fear and 
 tremble: but faith joins with our science, or knowledge, the 
 RESURRF.CTioN OF Christ: thcH wc havc a good conscience, not 
 troubled with the guilt of sin : for Christ died for our sins ; he aton- 
 ed for them all on the cross ; they are all buried in his sepulchre. 
 He rose again for our justification : hence wc are fully discharged 
 from all condemnation for sin. Thus we have a good answer fiom 
 a good conscience towards God, by the ressurrection of Jesus Christ. 
 Now, 1st. This is what Paul calls "The mystery of faith. "....1 Tim. 
 iii. 9. It is a mystery, known only by the experience of the faith- 
 ful. Carnal reason cannot comprehend it ; the judgment of sense 
 rejects it ; natural men think a good conscience arises from their 
 being good in themselves, and doing no harm ; they have a stupid, 
 conscience and a deceitful heart ; they believe a lie ; and such, from 
 a notion of their own righteousness, think they have a good answer 
 therefrom towards God. Such is the ignorance, blindness, and un- 
 belief of nature. This nature is part of us : this flesh, with all its 
 carnal reasonings and corrupt notions, opposes the mystery of faith 
 in the conscience. Therefore^ 2d. This mystery, is to be held in a 
 pure conscience : the resurrection of Christ is to be held fast, as 
 that truth by which conscience can maintain peace,, the heart be 
 made happy, the life influenced to all holiness, while God justifies, 
 us : this is the peculiar glory of faith. Hence, "The God of hope 
 fills us with all joy and peace in believing.".. ..Rom. xv. 13. This 
 is our resurrection blessing. 
 
214 JULY 30. 
 
 / have remembered thij nmne^ O Lord, in the night.... 
 Psalm cxix. 55. 
 
 Consider, 1st. Hebrew names express the nature of the things 
 to which they are applied. Whatever name the Lord makes him- 
 self known by to us, is expressive of his nature and of his covenant 
 of love and grace to us. Hence there is no name so sweet to us 
 sinners, as that which he hath asssumed, the name Jesus : the 
 Lord, the self-existing Jehovah, Jesus. All the glorious perfections 
 ©f wisdom, love and power, shine with the greatest lustre in that 
 name: the greiit God, even our Saviour Jesus. ...Tit. ii. 13. All the 
 attributes of Jehovah are magnified and glorified in that precious 
 name. 2d. To remember the name of the Lord, is to meditate in 
 faiih upon what he is to us, hath done for us, and hath promised to 
 bestow upon us, as the Lord our Saviour. O, what a wide field for 
 meditation is here ! But, od. David remembered the Lord in the 
 night. While others are sleeping, or doing worse, he was meditat- 
 ing ; in the night, when all nature is in profound silence : this is a 
 blessed season for meditation upon the I^ord of creation, Providence, 
 and grace. But by the night may also be understood, 1st. The 
 night of afiliction, pain, and sickness of body. O, how sweet to 
 remember the Lord's name in it ; to see the rod of love in the 
 Rand of a coveuant God and loving Father. Or, 2d. A night of be- 
 reaving, the loss of a near relative, or a dear friend. O, blessed to 
 remember, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away ;" and 
 to remember the Lord, to sanctify the loss, that we may be enabled 
 to say, "blessed be the name of the Lord." Or, Sd. The night of 
 temptation, when all appears dark and distressing : then how joyful 
 to remember the name of him who was tempted for us, the love 
 of him who sympathizes with us, the power of him who is able to 
 ;,uccour us, and the compassion of him who says his grace is suffi- 
 cient for usl Or, 4th. The night of desertion : O this si a black night 
 indeed 1 but yet, how animating to remember the name of the Lord, 
 who declares, " In a little wrath, I hid my face from thee for a 
 moment ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon 
 thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.". ...Isa. liv. 8. Lastly, how 
 sweet to remember the name of the Lord, against the night of death. 
 Dear Lord, familiarize that solemn night to our souls : let us medi- 
 tate on it Avith composure and look for it with joy : when we think 
 of its awful solemnity, let us remember thee, who hast swallowed 
 up death irt victory, took away its strength and sin ; so that in faith 
 we may joyfully cry out, " O death, where is thy sting ! O grave^ 
 where is thy victory ! ThanLs be to God, which giveth us the victory, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ.".... 1 Cor. Iv. 57. 
 
JULY 31. 215 
 
 Peter was grieved, because he said inito him the third 
 timey Love si thou me?. ...John xxi. 17. 
 
 Peter had grieved his Lord by three denials of him : now his 
 Lord grieves Peter with three questions of his love to him. We 
 may often read our sin in our punishment : Peter's Lord suffered him 
 to fall, to lower his pride and self-confidence. Now he has got hira 
 down in the valley of humiliation, he keeps him there. A little 
 while ago he boasts of his superlative love to Christ, above all the 
 rest of his disciples: " though all men shall be offended because of 
 thee, yet will I never be offended....! am ready to go with thee both 
 into prison and to death. ...though I should die with thee, yet will I 
 not deny thee." Brave words ! Who can doubt of the sincerity of 
 Peter's heart in all this? Hence learn, 1st. The wann fi-ames of 
 young converts are often attended with great self-confidence: there- 
 is much of nature's fire in them. My heart has often rejoiced and 
 has been warnied wiih love, to hear the ardor and energy with which 
 some in their first love have spoken of precious Jesus: but I have 
 thought, a sifting time will come; the Lord keep your poor hearts 
 humble before him. 2d. See the unchangeable love and sovereign 
 grace of Christ to his dear disciples. He told Peter of his fall and 
 warned him against it ; yea, set before him every particular aggrava- 
 tion of it. How blind are those who see not here the divinity of our 
 Lord? Notwithstanding this, Peter abates nothing of his self-confi- 
 dence. Must his fall cure him ? Not that, but Christ's grace, raised 
 and restored him. Falls into sin, naturally harden through the 
 deceitfulness of sin: take heed of looking to saints' falls, to make 
 you think little of your own. Peter's fall was a damnable sin: he 
 deserved hell for it: Christ snatched him as a brand out of the fire. 
 His grace brings good out of the evil of sin. Let us glory of grace, 
 but beware of sin. For, 3d. Souls raised by the grace of Christ 
 are grieved for their base sins and falls ; though the subject between 
 Christ and Peter was love, yet it grieves: no threats of hell and 
 damnation wound new born souls like love: "lovest thou me?" sailh 
 the Lord. Look back, soul, to thy past conduct ; say, was there 
 wann and generous love to thy Lord in it ? O, the thought of past 
 unkindness to Christ grieves the soul before him. As Christ re- 
 peats the question, grief is enlarged. 4th. Never think you are 
 truly raised from your falls and restored to the love of Christ, if 
 you have not grief of heart for them : Christ's grace melts into 
 love ; love sinks into humility, while it kindles the fire of joy and 
 excites a godly jealousy. 
 There's g^rief in love which none can Humble me, Lord, unto the dust, 
 
 At the affecting sight of sin ; [tell. And make me for my :ins ashamd. 
 But those who know they're sav'd from Save me from all self-righteous ttu>;t. 
 
 And feel Christ's precious love [hell, And ev'ry thing that may be blam'd. 
 within. M 
 
215 AUGUST 1. 
 
 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the 
 end that the promise might be sure to all the seed..., 
 Horn. iv. 16. 
 
 Men come to earthly inheritances either by heirship, gift or 
 purchase : each one can tell how he cairie by his estate, and by Avhat 
 right he holds it. Come, christian, examine thy heavenly inheri- 
 tance to-night : see how thou earnest possessed of it, and by Avhat 
 means thou dost hold and enjoy it. 1st. It is thine by purchase ; not 
 that thou didst ever contribute one mite to buy it ; but Christ thy 
 elder brother paid the full price for it : therefore it is called " the 
 purchased inheritance.".. ..Eph. i. 14. 2d. It is thine by gift: 
 " It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.".... 
 Luke xii. 32. 3d. It is thine by heirship : thou wast born to in- 
 herit it ; not by thy natural, but by thy spiritual birth. Now thou 
 art " an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ," thy elder bro- 
 ther....Rom. viii. 17. 4th. How dost thou hold it? By faith. 
 Mind this: faith is not thy title to it: thou hast that by pur- 
 chase, heirship and gift. Faith receives it, takes possession of it, 
 and enjoys the comfort of it. " We receiving a kingdom". ...Heb. 
 xii. 28. 5th. The Spirit is the earnest of this inheritance : he first 
 makes thee an heir, then bears witness to it, by possessing thee of 
 the graces and gifts of the kingdom : so he trains thee up for the 
 full enjoyment of it in glory. 6th. It is by faith, " that it might be 
 by grace." Works have not the least hand at all in the matter : 
 they neither procure right nor give title to it : it is a gift of the 
 free favor of God : adoption to heirship, and purchase of it, are 
 all of free grace ; and faith to enjoy it, is a gift of grace also. 
 Well then, O soul, does not this inspire thee to give all the glory to 
 a gracious God ? But mind again, lastly, it is by grace, " to this end, 
 that the promise might be sure to all the seed," even the promise of 
 eternal life. The promise is by grace, therefore it is absolute, sure 
 and certain, else God's truth would fail : if it was suspended but 
 upon the smallest condition of works (whatever some may say) every 
 so\il would forfeit his title to heaven and fall into hell : but it is " sure 
 to all the seed ;" for God, who cannot lie, promised eternal life 
 before the world began.... Tit. i. 2. To whom ? To Christ, for and 
 ill behalf of all his spiritual seed : therefore in Christ our title is sure: 
 living upon him by faith, we enjoy both present comfort and full 
 assurance that we shall live and reign Avith him in his kingdom of 
 glory. Thus poor sinners' hearts are made happy in faith, joyful in 
 hope, obedient in love, while Father, Son and Spirit, have all the 
 glory. 
 Grpce freely gives and faith receives, The woman's seed, the seed of Christ, 
 
 The premise of eternal life; Are heirs, by promise sure, 
 
 Hence all our Joy of hope revives, In sweet experience now they're ble»t» 
 
 Conscience is freed from strife. And shall be ever more. 
 
AUGUST 2. 217 
 
 Moses endured, as seeing hhn zvho is invisible.... Heb. 
 XI. 27. 
 
 What a paradox ! " Seeing him who is invisible." Is not this 
 deemed the very height of enthusiasm ? I dearly love that word: it 
 signifies, being in God : and I love it in the very sense carnal men 
 use it too ; for they mean, one who has got the zeal and fire of god- 
 liness in his soul. Give me that man for my companion who is 
 cast off by the world as an enthusiast. Is it any marvel that scrip- 
 tural, experimental truths are foolishness to the spiritually blind, and 
 that they can neither endure the persons nor the language of the 
 children of faith? Consider, 1st. What did Moses endure? What 
 you, and I, and every enlightened soul is called to endure, "the re- 
 proach of Christ, and suffering affliction with the people of God." 
 Now this is opposed, by "enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season." 
 So that if you will but enjoy the pleasures of sin, with the men of 
 this world, you may escape the reproach of Christ and avoid suffer- 
 ing affliction from them. Now, which is your choice? If Christ is 
 in your eye, you cannot hesitate one moment : Moses' choice will 
 be yours. Give me Christ.. ..welcome reproach... .afflictions I em- 
 brace for him. O let me have Christ within me, and his mark upon 
 me. Faith makes all easy: love makes all pleasant: hope makes 
 all joyful. Well, but how could Moses endure the reproach of 
 Christ, before Christ was born in the flesh? Why, the promised 
 Messiah was the object of his faith, his hope, his love and his joy : 
 so he was of all these heroes of faith, recorded in this chapter. 
 " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," is the one 
 only object of every sinner's faith, since the full of Adam to this 
 day : take away Christ and faith has no existence. But, 2d. How did 
 Moses endure ? Just as you and I must, seeing : this implies a 
 continued act of the mind, constantly fixed upon an object. We 
 cannot be stedfast in faith, joyful in hope, abounding in love, and 
 enduring reproach for Christ, unless we are continually "looking 
 unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that 
 was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is 
 set down at the right hand of the throne of God."....Heb. xii. 2. 
 Though he is invisible to the eye of sense, yet we see him by the 
 eye of faith : see him as our fore-runner entered into the heavens 
 for us. ...removed all things out of the way that hindered us. ...ever 
 living to pray for us.. ..ever ready to keep us. ...and wai « ig to 
 receive us to himself, that where he is there we may be also. O, 
 this coQstant looking makes hopeful, holy, joyful living, and com- 
 fortable dying. 
 
 Faith is a fiight unto the soul, Which docs our;inful pow'rs Ci.trou', 
 
 To sec an unseen Christ, And makes ut truly b'.cti. 
 
 Vol. II. D d 
 
918 AUGUST 3. 
 
 Whose names are in the book of life,.. .Phil. iv. 3. 
 
 IIow did Paul know that ? Had he seen the book of life, when 
 caught up to the third heavens ? No ; but he very plainly and evi- 
 dently saw the work of God's Spirit upon these persons' souls, by 
 their fruits of faith and labours of love to the glory of the Lord 
 Jesus : hence he speaks so confidently of them. This furnishes us 
 with these glorious truths, 1st. That the names of all God's cho- 
 sen people are registered in the book of life, called the Lamb's 
 book of life.... Rev. xxi. 27. This implies the eten-al love of God 
 to them ; choice of them, personal knowledge of each of them, 
 value for them, care over them, and their certain enjoyment of God 
 in heaven and glory : for, " says the Lord of hosts, they shall be 
 mine in that day when I make up my jewels. "....Mai. iii. 17. But 
 may not the name of a believer in Christ be blotted out of this book 
 of life and he suffered to perish ? No, saith the Lamb, I will not 
 blot his name out of the book of life. ...Rev. iii. 5. It is his book: 
 they are too dearly loved and loo dearly bought, to be blotted out. 
 Not all the powers of sin, earth and hell, can inake him a liar : he 
 hath said, " I give unto my sheep eternal life, they shall never per- 
 ish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.".. ..John x. 28. 
 Say, believer, what hadst thou done to deserve thy name to be en- 
 rolled in the annals of eternal love ? What canst thou do to merit 
 its continuance in the book of life ? Methinks thy generous, loving 
 soul, recoils at these thoughts. Love did the mighty deed : grace 
 reigns: salvation from first to last is all of free-gift to God's glory. 
 2d. Those whose nameG are written in the book of life may attain 
 to a comfortable knowledge of it. How ? Not by seeing this book ; 
 not by any voice, visions, or fresh revelations from heaven: but, says 
 Paul of these, " They laboured with me in the gospel." This im- 
 plies, faith in the Lord Jesus, lore to him, delight in him and in 
 the gospel of his grace. When the gospel is indeed good news to 
 us miserable sinners, when we see the glory of Father, Son and 
 Spirit shine in it, when it captivates our affections, enlivens our 
 hearts, invigorates our minds, animates our hopes, brings peace to 
 our consciences, and subdues the whole man, to give up all for it, 
 and to live under the influence of it, we may be well assured our 
 names are written in heaven : for the power of God hath effected 
 this upon our heart, as a consequence of it, and a sure evidence to 
 prove jt. Hence, 3(1. Vou see the genuine effects of God's electing 
 love : " We ai'e chosen iVom the beginning to salvation, through 
 sanctification of tlie Spirit, and belief of the truth. "....2 Thess. ii. 13. 
 Without a holy faith in Jesus, a holy life from him, and a holy 
 walk before him, we can enjoy no comfort from electing love. But 
 these arc evident tokens of the salvation of God.. ..Phil. i. 28. 
 
AUGUST 4. 519 
 
 And ye arc complete in him.... Col, ii. 10. 
 
 Holy Paul has but one object in view : he aims to bring all 
 christians to one point, even to be happy and joyful in one Saviour. 
 As in Christ all the fulness of the godhead dwelt bodily, so his dis- 
 ciples should see that they are complete in him. O, how do we 
 labour and toil, vex and perplex our poor hearts from day to day, for 
 want of clearly seeing and simply believing this. Consider, 1st. 
 The assertion : Paul does not here exhort, be ye complete, but affirms, 
 " ye are complete:" not ye shall be complete hereafter, when you 
 have |!;ot stronger faith, greater love, and more good works ; but, 
 " ye ARE complete" now, at this present moment. Do not think 
 you want any thing in yourselves to make you complete, but know 
 and rejoice, ye are full, complete and perfect in Christ, your head; 
 for ye are members of him ; and being one in him, all his perfection 
 is yours: this is the glory of faith : here is the comfort and joy of 
 faith ; and thus faith gives glory to Christ, its author and object : it 
 leaves all works behind : it finds all perfection in Christ, aod it works 
 by love to all good works : not to get perfection by them, but to 
 glorify Christ, in whom we are already perfect and complete. But, 
 2d. In what sense are all believers complete in Christ ? 1st. In righ- 
 teousness: they are perfectly righteous in Christ, therefore they 
 are perfectly accepted and fully justified by (iod, in him....F.ph. i. 6. 
 They never can be more complete in righteousness than they are 
 IN Christ. 2d. In the abolishing of sin. They are presented in 
 Christ without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: Christ hath by 
 one offering perfected for ever, all them that are sanctified.. ..Ikb. 
 X. 14. That is, separated by the love of God the Father, from eter- 
 nity ; and separated by God the Spirit, to believe on Christ in time, 
 and to whom Christ is made sanctification. 3d. In freedom from 
 the guilt of sin and punishment by the law of God : the work of 
 Christ makes " perfect, as pertaining to the conscience. "....Heb. 
 ix. 9. Their hearts are sprinkled from an evil, or guilty conscience.... 
 Heb. x. 22. There is now no (not one, not the least) condemnation 
 to them which are in Christ Jesus.... Hon), viii. 1. 4th. in their 
 victory over death : their victory is complete in Jesus Christ : this 
 is the grateful triumph of faith, "Thanks be to CJod which giveth vs. 
 the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.".... 1 Cor. xv. 57. In 
 their assured hope of a glorious immortality, our hope in Christ is 
 perfect and complete : nothing can be added to it. For we are in 
 Christ, 1st. Perfectly cleansed from all our sins. 2d. Restored to 
 perfect righteousness. 3d. Perfectly reconciled to God. And, 4lli. 
 The gate of heax-^n is opened to us. Here is a glorious perfection 
 indeed, this is a perfeetioii worth contending for. O precious Christ 1 
 O precioiis faith I 
 
220 AUGUST 5. 
 
 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. ...Gal. 
 iv. 7. 
 
 Why does Paul tell believers this, seeing he had in the former 
 verse said, that the Spirit assured their hearts of it ? We hence 
 plainly see the necessity of the outward M'ord of reconciliation, as 
 well as the inward testimony of the Spirit ; and if the witness of 
 the Spirit within does not accord to the testimony of the word with- 
 out, we do well to suspect it : besides, from the Avorking of a legal 
 spirit, the prevailing of unbelief, the raging of coiTupt lusts, an 
 undue attention to the things of this life, and the accusations of 
 satan, children of God are prone to live below their glorious state 
 and inestimable privilege. Hence our loving, heavenly Father has 
 not the joy of our hearts, nor the glory of our lives: we do not al- 
 ways, as commanded, rejoice in Christ, our dear elder brother : 
 therefore Ptiul reminds, " thou art no more a servant." Consider, 
 1st. What means he by a servant? 1st. He is under the law, in 
 bondage to it : he gets no freedom of spirit nor liberty of soul from 
 it, do what he will. It still says do: work on : you have not done 
 enough yet: J must have perfect obedience from you: you are 
 my bounden servant. 2d. He works for wages : he expects justifi- 
 cation BY his works, and salvation for his obedience. 3d. He is 
 always under fear and terror of being punished in hell for his faults, 
 and the wrath of God coming upon him for his disobedience. For, 
 4th. He sees no higher motive to act by and work from, than the 
 law of works: he is alive to the law, though he is under the sen- 
 tence of curse and death by it. Tell him of free and full justifica- 
 tion unto life, by the work of the Son of God only, without works ; 
 he rejects it, as downright Antinomianism. O, believer in Jesus, 
 rejoice thou art no more such a servant, but a son. 2d. See the 
 blessedn^-'ss of this state. 1st. You are not left to work under the 
 law to obtain God's favor ; for he hath freely adopted you to be his 
 son. You have not received the spirit of bondage to fear, (hell and 
 damnation) but the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry, " Abba, 
 Father.".... Rom. viii. 15. 2d. You are a regenerate son. God hath 
 begotten you again, (from the dead hope of the law) to a lively 
 hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ....! Pet. i. 3. What work 
 couldst thou do to deserve this blessing ? Just as much as a devil in 
 hell could to deserve to be made an angel in heaven : it was of thy 
 Father's abundant mercy. 3d. Thou art a son of God by faith 
 in Christ Jesus... .Gal. iii. 26. A believing son, by gospel grace : 
 not a working servant under legal terror. Live then up to your 
 dignity, upon your Father's love and elder brother's grace, above 
 the slavery of sin, the bondage of the law, and the fear of hell : 
 " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon U9 ?".... 
 1 John iii. 1. 
 
AUGUST 6. ^ 221 
 
 And if a- s.on, tJtai an heir of God ilwough Christ 
 
 Gal. iv. 7. 
 
 Paul's rational conclusions are enough to put all the sophistry 
 of men and devils to confusion, and to silence all the- unscriptural 
 objections of unbelief. 1st. If a son of God, by adoption and gl'acc, 
 then no more a servant under the law, working to obtain the favor of 
 God, righteousness, justification unto life, and salvation by obe- 
 dience to the law ; or to dread its cui-se and condemnation for trans-' 
 gressions against it. This truth will try you, whether you have 
 got the heart of a son of God or not : if not, you will cry, O, this* 
 is fine doctrine 1 It suits my lusts exceeding well. If I am not- 
 made a son Bv my works, nor continued a son for my works ; 
 seeing I get no good by obeying the law, nor any evil by transgress- 
 ing it, I will gratify my lusts : this is the real language of carnal 
 nature, not of a regenerate soul : such plainly evince that they have 
 not the genuine love of a son of God. If a son, then there is the 
 faith, the hope, the love, the joy, the peace of sons ; and a com- 
 placency and delight in the Father's sovercigH will, gracious pur- 
 poses, covenant mei'cy, providential dispensations, holy commands, 
 and righteous precepts. The soul has an habitual attention to its 
 Father's voice : *' behold. ...h ear.. ..belikve in my Son, in whom 
 I delight and am well pleased." 2d. Then an heir of God. Asto- 
 nishing expression ! What do I read ? What I, who am the subject 
 of sin and death, and an heir of hell, yet an heir of God ? O, my 
 soul ! Why art thou not filled with an ecstacy of joy ? Help, O help 
 me, thou blessed Spirit, to believe this glorious truth in all its di- 
 vine fulness. What ! An heir of Jehovah, God the Father, Son 
 and Holy Spirit? An heir to all that God has to bestow, to all the 
 blessings of earth and heaven, in time and eternity ; an heir to the 
 Father's everlasting love, the Son's everlasting salvation, and to the 
 Spirit's everlasting consolations, on earth and in glory ? Yes, all, 
 all are freely given and divinely secured by covenant grace, preciou* 
 promises, and solemn oath of my Eloliim. But can it be that I am 
 an heir of God, who groan under a body of sin and death....am har- 
 rassed by satan and my lusts.. ..perplexed in a wicked world ? Yes. 
 Here faith is all in all : it receives this truth and glories in it. Mind, 
 3d. " An heir, through Christ." Thy heirship comes through him 
 ....is jointly with him.. ..is enjoyed in him : it is all out of nature 
 and sense ; above sight and feeling ; beyond the sin and misery of 
 nature : it is by faith in Christ. By faith we cry, Abba, Father ; I 
 love thy holy law ; delight in thy righteous will ; rejoice to obey 
 thee, as thy loving child ; bless thee that I am no more a slave to 
 sin, a captive of satan, and in bondage to the law. O, what shall 
 I render to my heavenly Father for his inexpressible love I 
 
22? AUGUST 7, 
 
 And became ye are sous, God hath sent forth the ^^plrit of 
 his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.... Gal. 
 iv. 6. 
 
 This is the peculiar glory of gospel grace, sinners are sons of 
 God : here is the jo)'ful knowledge of it, by the Spirit : here is the 
 precious boldness of children to God, my father. The glory of 
 the whole trinity is in this verse.. ..Lord, help us to consider, the 
 Spirit. ..his cry.... and Avhere he cries. 1st. The Spirit : mind, he is 
 called the Spirit of Christ, tlie Son of God; for he corries to us from 
 Christ, his office is to testify of Christ, to glorify him ; for he takes 
 of the things of Christ, and shews them to us.. ..John xvi. 14. He 
 convinces us of sin ; our want of righteousness ; gives us a right 
 judgment of Christ, and his M'ovk for our salvation ; leads us to 
 Christ ; begets us to a lively hope in him ; and becomes to our 
 souls a spirit of adoption, because we are the sons of God by faith in 
 Christ. Then, 2d. He gives us a cry : he becomes a spirit of grace 
 and supplication to us. When a child is born, it soon discovers that 
 it is alive, by its cries : God has no still-born children. As soon as 
 Paul was converted, he prayed to God Jesus. That soul that never 
 prayed to Christ, Avas never converted by his Spirit. Do you believe 
 in and pray to Christ as over all, God blessed for evermore ? That 
 is a sure and blessed evidence that you are converted by the Spirit of 
 Christ ; for it is his cry. 3d. Where doth he put this cry ? Where 
 the sense of our misery is ; where the graces of faith, hope, love, 
 and air religion centre, in our hearts. Every body can say. Our 
 Father.. ..Christ liave mercy on us, with their lips : but God's elect 
 cry day and night to him, from their hearts.. ..Luke xviii. 7. 
 David says, " thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer 
 unto thee.". ...2 Sam. vii. 27. The lips will soon give over crying, 
 if there is not a ciy in tlie heart. 4th. What a precious cry is 
 it? Not an angel, nor arch-angel in glory, has such a cry. They 
 cannot cry, Abba, Father. Though God created them, he never re- 
 generated them : Christ never died for them : the Spirit never cries 
 in their hearts, Abba, Father ; in the sense which he does in us mi- 
 serable sinners. " In the midst of the terrors of the law, thun- 
 derings of sin, assaults of death,^ and roarings of satan, the Holy 
 Ghost crieth, Abba, Father : this cry surmounteth the horrible 
 cries of the law, sin, death and the devil ; it pierceth the clouds and 
 the heavens, an4 asctndeth up into the ears of God," saith Luther. 
 Thus when we take hold of Christ by faith, we cry, through him, 
 Abba, Father. O soul, rejoice in the love of Father, Son and 
 ^pirit, and walk wcwthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing.. ..Col. i. 10. 
 
 The spirit of his Son he sends, Whereby we Abba, Father; cry, 
 
 Into our mouriii'iil heart, And all our fears depart. M. 
 
AUGUST 8. 223 
 
 JVe are changed.... 2 Cor. iii. 18. 
 
 What a blessed and glorious change has passed upon our souls ! 
 Lord, help us to consider it this night to thy glory and our comfort, 
 how, by whom, and why are we changed. 1st. How are wc chang- 
 ed ? From sinful into sinless creatures? No: some speak of this 
 change as if it was a total change of our corrupt nature : hence many 
 dear children of God, finding and feeling all the ruins of their fallen 
 nature from day to day, are sorely distressed, and conclude that no 
 spiritual change has passed upon their souls : but this change is 
 purely spiritual ; it passeth upon the spirit of our minds ; these 
 were enmity against God, now they love (iodand delight in the law 
 of God. Our souls, once dead in sin, are nowali\c in God. We 
 are translated from darkness into light; we see with open face, in 
 the glass of the gospel, the glory of Jesus in all his offices and pre- 
 cious salvation. Hence our minds are changed into his image ; wc 
 are united to him and are one with him ; the image of God, lost in 
 the fall, is restored to our souls in Christ; we are in him, as righte- 
 ous before God as though we had never sinned ; as holy and with- 
 out spot of sin, as though we had never lost our innocence. Such 
 is our glorious change ; this is the joy of faith ; this is above nature, 
 beyond carnal sense. 2d. By whom are we changed ? By the Lord 
 the Spirit. Being loved of God the Father, when dead in sin ; being 
 redeemed by God the Son from our sins ; God the Spirit changes 
 us from dead sinners into living saints in Christ. 3d. To what end? 
 that we should admire ourselves, glory in ourselves, and so trust in 
 ourselves as to expect God's favor and eternal life for what we are in 
 ourselves ? O, no. Though changed into the image of Christ, 
 yet we shall find all the evil of sin in our fiesh : though new crea- 
 tures in Christ, still the old man, with all his corrupt lusts and 
 carnal affections is alive in us: this is enough to humble us. But 
 the Spirit changes us, that we should glory in and glory of Christ; 
 that all our joy and rejoicing should be in the Lamb of God, who 
 hath taken away our sins, for ever saved our souls, and brought us 
 into sweet peace and holy fellowship with God ; that we may enjoy 
 him in love, and walk before him in holiness below, and live and 
 reign eternally with him above. These are the great and glorious 
 ends of our being changed. One change more and we are in glory. 
 We shall all be changed, body and soul, into the image of the 
 heavenly Jesus. 
 
 Chang'J in my state, my heart and Rejoice, another cliange awaits 
 By power of the sacrad THREE: [ways. Thee, as anew-born child of God: 
 My soul adore this Lord of grace, Thou soon shalt pass the heay'niy jateu. 
 And walk in love and purity. Free from ail sin, with glory clad. M 
 
224 AUGUST y. 
 
 I am the Lor^d, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob 
 are not consumed.... Mai. iii. 6. 
 
 Religion without feeling is like a dead carcase : fcelinj- with- 
 out truth is only nature warmed by fancy. Those are the only pre- 
 cious feelings, which are caused by the word of God: this is a joy- 
 ful feeling, when we can say, '*! rejoice at thy word, as one that 
 findeth great spoil. "....Psalm cxix. 162. Why such exceeding great 
 joy? Because the word of God testifies of the immutable nature 
 and unchangeable love of a covenant God to poor sinners. I am the 
 Lord, Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit : I change not. There's 
 the believer's security from destruction: in this consists his safety 
 unto salvation ; for alas! we are poor, changeable creatures : now, 
 our souls are strong in confidence, warm with love, joyful through 
 hope, enlarged in prayer, with Christ in our view and glory in our 
 eye; anon, a cloud arises in the horizon of our hearts, unbelief 
 prevails, lust rages, corruptions roar, all nature is in ferment, and 
 the soul in distress : then, what has it to look to for hope, and turn 
 to for comfort? An unchangeable God, who is of one mind; with 
 whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.. .. Job xxiii. 13. 
 James i. 17. A precious " Jesus, who is the same yesterday, and 
 to-day, and for ever."....Heb. xiii. 8. •' The Lord thy God in the 
 midst of thee, is mighty : he will save, he will rejoice over thee with 
 joy: he will rest in his love: he will joy over thee with singing". ..» 
 Zeph. iii. 17. The different frames and feelings which distress us, 
 do not affect God nor cause any change in his love to us. A change- 
 able God must be an unhappy being, like ourselves: but God never 
 changes in his love, purposes, and grace to us. For, ist. He did 
 not love us, choose us, and set his heart upon us on account of what 
 he saw in us, but as he viewed us in the Son of his love. We are 
 unrighteous sinners in ourselves ; but he sees in Christ an everlast- 
 ing atonement for our sins, and an everlasting righteousness to jus- 
 tify us: therefore he is ever pleased with us in Christ ; ever of one 
 mind concerning us ; ever rests in his love to us and joy over us : 
 no change in us can ever affect his mind, his love, or his joy. 
 Hence learn, 1 st. Not to live upon your frames and feelings, nor upon 
 any thing you arc in yourself. Bless God for lively frames and com- 
 fortable feelings ; but know, these are not Christ; they do not make 
 you acceptable to God. But, 2d. Look to and live upon what you 
 arc in Christ : that is your glory. God so views and loves you. 
 Look here, live here, and rejoice. So you will, 3d. Be like God, 
 of one mind uni.o Jcsvis, live upon him, and walk to the glory of 
 your (Jod and Father, in him. 
 
 Go<l never changes in his love. As though today he souls approve, 
 
 A» fecbk men do ihiuK, After to hell will sink- ' M. 
 
AUGUST 10. 225 
 
 The heirs of promise.... Hcb. vi. 17. 
 
 Consider, 1st. An heir of promise, is one who has no just 
 right or legal title to an inheritance, but as it is ensured to him by 
 the promise of the owner : just so the Lord makes sinners, who have 
 no right or title to his heavenly inheritance, a free promise that they 
 shall be heii-s to it. 2d. When was this promise made ? " Before 
 the world began, God who cannot lie, promised eternal life 1".... 
 Tit. i. 2. Sd. To whom could the promise be made, seeing man 
 was not then created ? It was not made to man, but for man : 
 not for any thing in man : nor does this promise receive any stability 
 by any thing done by men. It was made in the eternal council and 
 covenant, by God the Father to his co-equal Son ; for, and in behalf 
 of all the heirs of God. 4th. Who are the heirs of promise ? God 
 knows every one of them : we know theii- name: it is sinnkr. In 
 the fulness of time he makes them manifest, and they have blessed 
 evidence and assurance of their being heirs : for, as the Father 
 gave them to Christ, the Spirit draws them, and they come unto 
 Christ : this is the blessed evidence of heirship : they are refugees: 
 they flee for refuge from the curse of the law : the desert of sin, 
 every hope, and all help in themselves to lay hold of Jesus their 
 trustee, to whom the promise was made, in whom it centers, and 
 through whom it shall be fulfilled : but neither their fleeing, nor 
 their faith, makes them heirs ; but being heirs in Christ, they are 
 enabled to flee to him, believe in him, and enjoy the comfort of it. 
 5th. See then, ye believing heirs, how safe your state, how secure 
 your inheritance; " it is reserved for you."....l Pet. i. 4. God wil- 
 ling more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immu- 
 tability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath....lieb. v. 17. O the 
 love of God ! O the horrid blasphemy of men ! They who say an 
 heir of promise may be damned, charge the great God with perjury ! 
 For, 6th. The inheritance is not by works : not for any thing we 
 have done, or can do : not for any grace given us, but being 
 heirs by promise, grace is given us, that we should live and 
 walk like sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. As you 
 did nothing to make yourself an heir of promise and to get a title to 
 eternal life, so you can do nothing to forfeit it. It is impossible for 
 God to lie : he cannot be forsworn : his promise cannot fail : yet, if 
 you do not live like an heir of God, your faith will grow weak, your 
 comfort low : you will lose sight of your title, and your Father will 
 visit your transgression with a rod.. ..Psalm Ixxxix. 32. 
 
 I have no right to be an heir, Then, Lord, I humbly come to thee, 
 
 Of God's most rich inheritance ; A sinner vile, wretched and poor; 
 
 His promise gives to all a share, O grant me clearly now to see 
 
 Who place in Christ their confidence. I've entered in by Christ the door. M. 
 Vol. II. E e 
 
226 AUGUST 11. 
 
 Ml/ son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.... 
 
 2 Tim. u. 1. 
 
 Paul had known what it was to be strong in vain confidence and 
 self-righteous hopes ; to be strong in rage and persecution against 
 Christ and his people : but his poor soul had severely smarted for 
 that. Now Christ had got possession of his heart, he was all in all 
 to him ; he thought he could never enough recommend him and his 
 grace to his dear friends. O let us imitate him. 1st. The grace 
 that is in Christ Jesus : because of our low, mean, scanty thoughts 
 of his rich grace, we are low in courage against our enemies, and 
 weak in the comforts of our souls. Know, there is much more in 
 this than many weakly suppose, as though Christ came into the 
 world to procure some grace for us, puts it into us as they do seeds 
 into a hot-bed, leaves us to be faithful to it, and so to secure our own 
 salvation. What kind of grace is this? Not saving grace: if this 
 is all, it would end in our certain destruction ; but the grace, or 
 favor that is in Christ towards us, is nothing less than the everlast- 
 ing love of God to us : an everlasting atonement for our sins : an 
 everlasting righteousness to justify our persons : an everlasting sal- 
 vation for our souls ; and the everlasting consolations of the Holy 
 Ghost, all promised to us in the everlasting gospel, and enjoyed in 
 faith : those wlio diminish ought of all this from the grace of Christ, 
 are op'en enemies to God's glory in Christ, and to the peace, holi- 
 ness, and comfort of our souls. Ignorance and unbelief are our 
 Lord's enemies and ours. Against these, 2d. Be strong in this 
 grace : fortify your mind : fence yourself round with it : entrench 
 yourself in it : let your confidence be strong in it against all opposing 
 enemies ; be bold in faith : strong in hope ; confident in the grace 
 of Christ : rest not in any degree of grace received ; but be strong 
 in the fulness of the grace that is in Christ. Are your lusts and cor- 
 ruptions strong ? Oppose the Almighty grace of Christ to them : 
 are your doubts and fears strong ? " Be strong in the precious pro- 
 mises which are in Christ Jesus, yea and amen, to the glory of 
 God. "....2 Cor. i. 20. Are your conflicts, temptations and distresses 
 strong ? Flee for refuge to Jesus, the hope set before you : there is 
 STRONG CONSOLATION for you ! God knowing our distress and dejec- 
 tion through the prevailings of unbelief, has graciously confirmed his 
 council and promise (O astonishing!) l)y his oath. Can you, dare 
 you think it possible for (iod to lie or be perjured ? Then, whatever 
 in nature, sense and feeling oppose, stagger not at the promise of 
 God through unbelief; " but be strong in faith giving glory to God." 
 ....Rom. iv. 20. 
 
 With strongest love, and sufferings Then let's be strong, in Christ complete 
 Chribt manifests his grace: [great, AVe're £ur« to see his face. M. 
 
AUGUST 12. 227 
 
 Fight the good fight of faithy My hold on eternal life.... 
 . 1 Tim. vi. 12. ' 
 
 Soldiers of an earthly monarch are regularly enlisted to fifjht 
 under his banner : they wear his livery and are furnished by Inm ^^ ith 
 arms: in a day of battle they prove their courage and faithfulness. 
 So the captain of our salvation chooses and enlists his own soldiers : 
 he puts on them a livery whereby they are known to his enemies : 
 he puts an armour on them and weapons into their hands. From 
 the moment they enlist under him, they enter the field of battle : 
 there is never any peace with the enemy ; the fight is the good fight 
 of faith; the prize is eternal life; the daily word of command is, 
 FiGUT....stand to your arms. ...give no quarter to the enemy. ...be- 
 ware of the least truce with them; for the danger is great, the ef- 
 fects will prove awful. It is a good fight: it is in a good cause; 
 under a good captain, who gives good encouragement, and has as- 
 sured us of certain victory over the worst of enemies. Fight this 
 good fight for the glory of him, who in dying for us has for ever 
 conquered all who are against us. But they are not all dead yet : 
 fight on : it is a good fight of faith. Dost thou say I have got no 
 faith ? Then pull off thy soldier's livery. What hast thou to do in 
 the rank ? But who told thee thou art destitute of faith ? Why, thou 
 hast laid down thy shield, are got into the enemies' camp; he has 
 seduced thee by his deceitful insinuations, and will prevail over thee. 
 No faith ! What meanest thou ? Instead of fighting against, thou 
 art parlying with the enemy. Dost thou believe that Jesus is the 
 Son of God, the Saviour of sinners ? Yes, sayest thou, but I have 
 not the comfort of knowing that he is my Saviour! What then? 
 Wilt thou deny thy faith for want of comfort ? Desert thy Lord's 
 banner till thou hast got assurance of his love ? Fight on against thy 
 Avorst foe, ulibelief, and cry to thy best friend, Lord increase my faith. 
 The battle is the Lord's: thy strength is from him: " be of good 
 courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: all ye that hope in 
 the Lord. "....Psalm, xxxi. 24. Lay hold on eternal life ; it is 
 the free gift of God. Lay hold of it by faith; possess and enjoy it 
 now in the belief of thy heart; hold it fast in hope: quit not thy 
 confidence in it; so shall thy heart be warm with love, thy spirit fill- 
 ed with joy, and thine arms made strong to fight, until thou art 
 crowned in eternal glory. Remember, the joy of thy Lord is thy 
 strength. When death, the last enemy comes, holdfast thy faith, 
 and thou shalt sing, victory in death. 
 
 True 'tis a fight with many foes. Cheer up my soul, look to thy Lord, 
 
 For us too great and strong; For strength in ev'ry hour, 
 
 But Christ hasconquer'd all our woes, Vict'ry is promis'd in his word, 
 
 The battle can't be long. O'er all thine en'mies power. M. 
 
22S AUGUST 13. 
 
 Having a form of godliness^bMt denijing tJie power thereof, 
 from such (urn a:vai)....2 Tim. iii. 5. 
 
 Paul says, "The gospel is the power of God,". ...Rom. i. 16.... 
 and "Christ is the power of God,"....l Cor. i. 24.. ..and "that our 
 faith standeth in the power of God."....l Cor. ii. 5. Hence it is 
 plain, that godliness is of a powerful nature upon the soul : it con- 
 sists not in form and shadow, not in notion and speculation, but in 
 the real enjoyment of Christ in the heart ; and in an experimental 
 '.nowledge of the grace of the gospel through faith : it is the grand 
 concern of every living and lively member of Christ, to enjoy more 
 of the light, life, liberty, and power of Christ and his gospel. 
 While those who have only the form of godliness, are content if 
 their heads are clear in the notions of divine truths, if they can but 
 see a harmony and consistency in the plan of salvation, give a good 
 account of the doctrines of grace, talk fluently about them and con- 
 tend earnestly for them : this they are content with and nothing more 
 they seek after. There is a species of the Gnostics among us at 
 this day : they place all religion in head knowledge, while they are 
 careless about real, heart experience : such are visible and manifest 
 by their life and walk ; they talk high, but live low ; they soar aloft 
 in notion, but live and walk low in carnal gratifications, earthly plea- 
 sures, and sensual delights : still the form of godliness exists in their 
 heads, but their hearts are void of the power of the Spirit, and the 
 warm influences of the love of God and the grace of Christ : they 
 deny all this ; if not in tongue, yet in life and action. What does 
 the apostle advise concerning such ? To aim to convince them, and 
 strive to convert their hearts to the power of the truth ? No: they ' 
 are so fortified with head knowledge that you cannot reach their 
 hearts ; it would be but lost labour to attempt it ; therefore, from 
 such TURN away: leave them ; you can do them no good: they 
 may do you much harm. 1st. In catching their spirit and temper ; 
 it is contagious. We may say of such, as Solomon says of the fu- 
 rious man, " make no friendship with him, with him thou shalt not go, 
 lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul."....Prov. 
 xxii. 24, 25. 2d. Such professors greatly damp and abate the zeal of 
 faith, the joy of hope, and the comfort of love, which arc enjoyed 
 in communion and fellowship with God and his Son Jesus Christ ; 
 as they have no heart to it, nor relish for it, their conversation will 
 not savour of it ; so that you will get no help forward, but rather be 
 driven backward. 3d. You will be in danger of getting a notion that 
 you can enjoy God and the world ; have fellowship with both in 
 your heart, while a train of notions only exist in your head. And, 
 lastly, you will learn many specious, but carnal reasons, for throw- 
 ing off all self-denial, and indulging a light, tFifling, worldly spirit. 
 
AUGUST 14. 229 
 
 That which is boini of the fie s^ is fiesh...John ill. 6. 
 
 To learn the total corruption and desperate wickedness of human 
 nature, is a hard lesson to flesh and blood: to have no confidence in 
 the flesh; to consider ourselves upon a level with the very worst 
 and vilest of sinners, yea, "vvith the very devils, in point of hope of 
 salvation in ourselves, is moftifying to our human pride and con- 
 trary to our carnal reason : " but the Lord of hosts hath purposed 
 it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all 
 the honorable of the earth.".. ..Isa. xxiii. 9. He hath effectually 
 done this, by appearing in our nature, and by the doctrines which 
 he taught. All flesh is become so totally corrupt and abominable in 
 the sight of God, so hopeless and helpless, that nothing but the com- 
 ing of the Son of (iod could bring salvation to us: he became the 
 Son of man that he might seek and save them that are lost: he seeks 
 us before we seek him : he saves us before we look for salvation 
 from him : he comes to us by his word and Spirit, and says, "that 
 which is born of the flesh is flesh." The flesh profiteth nothing to 
 salvation: they that are in the flesh cannot please God: there is no 
 good thing dwells in the flesh: therefore no good thing can proceed 
 from it. No man, unless born again out of corrupt nature, born 
 again of the Spirit, can see the kingdom of God. O soul, consi- 
 der, in order to raise love and gratitude, 1st. That salvation is a 
 work quite out of nature, that the flesh has not the least hand in 
 it, nor contributes the least mite towards it : nay, it is totally averse 
 to salvation by the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. 2d. 
 That the son of God did not come into the world to purchase grace 
 and put it into the hands of nature, to make our flesh holy, righteous 
 and good (as some foolishly talk) that so we might be saved: but 
 he saves us out of nature ; he gives us a new birth into himself by 
 his Spirit ; he leaves the flesh as he found it, vile ami sinful, no good 
 thing in it, that it might be subdued and mortified by the Spirit; 
 yea crucified, as accursed and devoted t death and destruction, be- 
 cause of the sin which dwelleth in it. 3d. Art thou born again of 
 the Spirit, so as to believe in Christ alone for salvation ? Beware of 
 having the least confidence in the flesh : aim not to make any shew 
 in the flesh : this ministers to the pride and righteousness of the 
 flesh. Know, thy flesh, with its corruption and lusts, as an enemy 
 to thy Saviour and to the peace and holiness of thy soul: treat it as 
 such : keep it low daily. Lastly, see all thy righteousness and per- 
 fection in the Son of God: glory only in him and of him: look on 
 thyself, though ever so vile, yet shining most gloriously in the sight 
 of God, in the glorious robe and glittering garments of him who is 
 "the Loud our RiGHTEousNEss."...tJer. xxiii. 6. 
 
230 AUGtrST 15. 
 
 But if ht thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold here 
 am J, let him do to me as scemeth good unto him.... 
 ^Sam. XV. 26. 
 
 Here is majesty in distress, a kingdom in confusion, and the 
 king's roral l\eai t strvick with a panic. Every circumstance concurs 
 to heighten poor David's sorrow: his own son had stole away the 
 hearts of his subjects, raised a most unnatural rebellion against his 
 roya! father, and caused him to llee from his city. Very excellently 
 says one, " Let a child of God be but two or three years without an 
 affliction, and he is almost good for nothing : he cannot pray, nor 
 meditate, nor discourse at that rate he was wont to do : but when a 
 new affliction comes, he finds his tongue; he comes to his knees 
 with fervency, and lives at another rate." Perhaps David was never 
 more weaned from self-confidence, nor did his faith ever run higher, 
 nor was his soul bowed lower, nor did he ever breathe with 
 more humble submission to divine sovereignty than at this time. 
 O, how does his grace shine in this speech ! As though he had said 
 to Zadock the priest, " Return with the ark : 1 hope I shall have the 
 Lord's real presence with me, though I have n©t the symbol of it : 
 I see myself in his hands: I firmly believe God's everlasting love 
 to me: he is my Saviour and my salvation: I know my immortal 
 soul is safe : how he will direct the event of this dark providence, I 
 know not. If it appears that the Lord has no delight in me, as the 
 king of his people, if he suffers my crown and kingdom to be taken 
 from me, his will be done ; he has a sovereign right to pull down 
 one and set up another. By him kings reign: by his will they are 
 deposed. Behold, here 1 am, let him do unto me as it seemeth good 
 unto him. Love makes all tilings work together for good." O 
 christian, dost thou not admire his faith in his God, his resignation 
 \jb the divine will, his submission to sovereign purposes, and his unre- 
 setved' acquiescence with the counsel of the Lord? Let that man 
 blush, who would dare imp-^qich the character or speak of the faith 
 of David in a diminutive sense, as though it was of the pigmy kind, 
 nbt to l)e compared with the faith of a christian. O, for more of the 
 grace of faith, to follow the bright example of this Old Testament 
 saint: though his o\s\\ beloved son, though his own dear subjects were 
 against him ; though driven from his palace, yet the presence of his 
 God and the power of his Spirit was with him. Well might David 
 say, " it is good for me that I have been afflicted.".. ..Psalm cxix. 71. 
 Ever remember, O soul, whatever thy afflctions may be, whoever 
 may be against thee to heighten them and aggravate thy sorrows, 
 yet the Lovd lialh said, '' I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." 
 ....Heb. xiii. 5. 
 
 Iklav we possess that humble frame, And trusts and waits upon his name, 
 Which casts the soul on God, Tho' chastcn'd by his rod. 
 
AUGUST 16. 231 
 
 Thus saith thy Lord the. Lord, and thy God zcho pleadeih 
 the cause of his people, &,\\...Isa. li. 22. 
 
 Thou poor sovil, ait thou almost at thy wits' end ; drunk with 
 trouble and intoxicated with afllittion ; over thee do men insult and 
 Satan triumph ? Are they saying to thee ? " Bow down," thou poor 
 insignificant wretch, " that we may go over thee," you a christian, 
 you are not what you profess : in the lowliness of thy mind, and in 
 the meekness of thy heart, dost thou take all this ? And as it were, 
 hast thou laid thy body on the ground and sufferedst thyself to be 
 walked over ? All this cannot satisfy the fury of thine enemies. 
 Wherein art thou to take comfort under all this ? Verily, from, 
 THUS sAiTH THY LoRD. Thy Lord : mind that : however men 
 treat thee, they cannot take thy Lord nor his love from thee ; nor 
 should they at any time disturb thy peace, or destroy thy comfort in 
 him; for the Lord IS thy God : thy is again repeated : why? that 
 thou shouldst take special notice of it ; be doubly confident in it. 
 
 the sweetness of these pronouns, my and thy. The precious- 
 ness of the gospel (says Luther) consists in them. " Who pleadeth 
 the cause of his people :" who doth this but Jesus. '' Then he is tht 
 Lord: the Lord and thy God. Canst thou desire a better? Wouldst 
 thou look to any other pleader? This righteous advocate hath fully 
 undertaken thy cause, without fee or reward : yea, such his amaz- 
 ing love for thee, such his astonishing readiness to serve thee, that 
 unsought, unasked, he voluntarily undertook to plead thy desperate 
 cause. Thou art not asked to put it into his hands : but art thou 
 content and happy to see it there ? Canst thou help loving and thank- 
 ing such a dear advocate, such a blessed Mediator ? This precious 
 pleader hath two points to carry for us. 1st. To acquit us from 
 every charge of the law, every condemnation of justice, and all the 
 fury of divine wrath due to our sins. 2d. To obtain for us the com- 
 forting, renewing, sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost : for 
 these he pleads the perfect atonement of his death and the spotless 
 obedience of his life. O, let what he ever pleads before the throne, 
 be the constant objects of our faith : so shall we triumph over all the 
 powers of darkness, the evil of sin, the curse of the law, and even 
 sing victory in distress. Mind this precious word and rejoice : 
 " the Lord taketh pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek 
 with salvation.". ...Psalm cxlix. 4. Then do you take pleasure in 
 the Lord and glory in his salvation. 
 
 1 shall prevail for Jesus pleads, The faith of this makes me rejoice, 
 My cause against my foes : To walk the ways of God : 
 
 My soul on death and danger treads, 'Tis sweet to h«ar his lovinj voice 
 Quite safe from all their woes. All thro' the heav'nly road M. 
 
232 AUGUST 17. 
 
 Jesus saidy zc/ij/ ore vc troubled F And ivhij do thoughts 
 arise iu your hearts?. ...Luke xxiv. 38. 
 
 ^Help, O help us, thou dear Lord, v.ho spoke these words to 
 thy affrighted disciples, to gather some sweet consolation from them 
 to our hearts this night : we know thou prayest for us, when thou 
 prayedst for all who should believe on thee.. ..John xvii. 20. O speak 
 in life and power these words to our troubled hearts, and forbid thft- 
 rising thoughts of distress. Thine is the power : thine shall be the 
 glory. 1st. We here see, though their dear Lord is present, yet 
 his beloved disciples are troubled : yea, and though he had but that 
 moment pronounced peace unto you, yet fears again arose in 
 their hearts : they were as we are, flesh, as well as spirit : men 
 of like passions with us. The frights, fears and troubles which na- 
 ture is subject to, discompose spiritual frames of disciples. But, 
 2d. They do not alter our state, nor separate us from the love of 
 Christ : this is a cordial under all heart troubles, and the rising of 
 all evil, blasphemous, filthy or horrid thoughts. For, 3d. Christ 
 is touched with the feeling of our infirmities : he sympathizes with 
 us in what is distressing to us : he asks, why are yc troubled ? Why 
 do ye give way to unreasonable fears and terrors, which distract and 
 distress your mind ? 4th. He takes pains to remove them: says he, 
 " Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself;" no other than 
 vour dear andla\'ing Saviour. O the condescending grace of Christ ! 
 He manifests himself to us. A sight of a risen Christ by faith, ex- 
 pels troubles and fear from our hearts. Therefore, 5th. Whatever 
 troubles, fears, dejections, terrors, or distress arise in our hearts, 
 we are encouraged with all freedom of soul and boldness of hope, 
 to go to him. Now, to the shame of our hearts and the sorrow of 
 our souls, have not you and I acted contrary to this ? Instead of sim- 
 ply going to Christ Avith our heart troubles and soul distresses, have 
 we not questioned Christ's love to us and care for us ? Thus satan 
 gets an advantage over us : our Saviour gets no glory from us. O, 
 fools that we are, and slow of heart to believe that Jesus died for our 
 sins, rose again for owr justification, and that he is able to save 
 unto the uttermost.. ..all them who come unto God by him, seeing 
 he ever liveth to make intercession for them....Heb. vii. 25. Up 
 then with faith and down with fears : away with all thoughts that 
 trouble our hearts. Look from within : look up. Jesus is before 
 the throne for us: "in the multitude of my thoughts within me, 
 thy comforts delight my soul:" "though 1 walk in the midst of 
 trouble, thou wilt revive me."....Psalm xciv. 19. and cxxxviii. 7. 
 
 My troubles. Lord, are known to thee, While I pass thro' this vale of tears, 
 Tlioii lia-.t a loving heart, How oft my spirit sinks, 
 
 To feel wiih tender sym|,athy, Daily beset with doubts and fears ; 
 
 And bid them all depart. But Jesus df me thinks. M. 
 
AUGUST 13. 233 
 
 But the lad knew not any thing : onlij Jonathan and David 
 knezv the matter. ...\Sam. xx. 39. 
 
 Had any one asked this lad, wliat was Jonathan doing in the 
 field? He would doubtless have replied, only shootin;^ arrows foi- his 
 amusement, and I ran and brought them lo him. This was all he 
 knew of the matter. But O, there was a much greater matter here ; 
 no less than the precious life of David was at stake. Love directed 
 these arrows : the voice of love proclaimed by them David's danger, 
 or his safety. The fatal word, is not the arrow b : yond thee ; 
 minds David of his danger, and warns him to flee for his life. 
 Observe, 1st. Never did more generous, fiithful love dwell in a 
 mere human breast, than in Jonathan's to David. But it diminishes 
 like the light of the stars when the sun appears, compared to that 
 infinitely greater and most intense love, v hich dwells in the heart 
 of our spiritual Jonathan, i. e. the gift of the Lord : this Jesus is 
 to all his Davids, i. e. beloved ones. 2d. There was a secret be- 
 tween Jonathan and David, on which his life depended. So there is 
 between Jesus and us, on wliich the life of our immortal souls de- 
 pend. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and 
 he will shew them his covenant. "....Psalm xxv. 14. His covenant 
 love and grace, and the perpetuity of them : that he has loved us 
 ■with an everlasting love, and that his grace shall never forsake us, 
 but shall bring us safe to glory. Therefore our souls are safe : our 
 salvation is sure. The Lord forbids our fears: " Thou shalt not be 
 afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flicth by day.".... 
 t*salm xci. 5. Neither sin, death or hell, shall ever prevail over 
 you. 3d.' The arrows were either behind, beside, or beyond the 
 lad: just so are these declarations of God's everlasting love to 
 LADS in religion: they do not receive them in faith. 4th. As the 
 lad picked up the arrows, but knew not the matter; so do they pick 
 up words, but understand not the secret of the Lord in them: their 
 words betray it ; for, say they, "if there is such a covenant, if God 
 loves me with an everlasting love, if Christ has finished salvation 
 for me, if all is of grace, without any condition of works, then no 
 matter how I live, 1 will take my full swing in sin and wickt-dness." 
 Such LADS are not in the secret; they arc strangers to the power of 
 covenant love and faithfulness ; their poor hearts are in bondage lo 
 the law; they know not the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free: 
 it lies between the gift of the Lord and iiis Davids, or beloved ones, 
 only. Now, if you are a man of understanding in the love of the 
 Lord, you will glory in it: study the height and depth, and length 
 and breadth of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that 
 you may be fillecl with all the fulnt ss of Cod....Fph. lii. IS, 19. 
 Vol. IL 1^ t 
 
234 AUGUST 19. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ be zcith Ihij spirit. ...2 Tim. iv. 22. 
 
 A MOST precious benediction ! How blind are all who deny the 
 divinity of Christ! How miserable are all who live without the pre- 
 sence of Christ! How ignorant are all Avho know not that such a 
 blessing is to be enjoyed ! How stupid are all those who seek it not ! 
 Art not thou, O christian, wanting, in not more earnestly seeking, 
 and constantly praying for more of the presence of thy Lord ? Con- 
 sider what is implied in this wish. It is heaven in the heart, glory 
 in the soul, to have Christ with our spirits: it disposes and qualifies 
 the soul for heavenly glory. For, 1st. Christ's presence sweetens 
 our bad tempers and subdues our unruly passions. Boisterous waves 
 are changed into a profound calm : rough winds are at peace : foam- 
 ing billows are still : there is the calm sun-shine of heart-felt joy 
 within: all is serene and happy without. Christ's presence causes 
 hiiughty pride and furious anger's absence. 2d. It fills the soul 
 with love: love to God and man. We cannot enjoy the presence 
 of Jesus without loving him as our Lord. It is love that causes 
 him to be present witli our spirits, and our spirits catch the flame 
 of love from him : and if we love God, this love will diffuse itself 
 to our brethren also. 3d. Christ's presence counsels and directs us 
 in all our difficulties. We are often in the dark, both as to provi- 
 dence and grace : in things temporal and spiritual : as to our bodies 
 and souls : biit the presence of the Lord causes light : solves every 
 difficulty ; and makes our way plain before our eyes, 4th. It enables 
 us to bear up imdcr all our distresses. Christ's presence comforts our 
 hearts while afflictions bow down our spirits. 5th. Chtist's presence 
 fortifies us with strength to fight manfully against the world, the flesh 
 and the devil. We can do all things through Christ strengthening us : 
 it is out of his fulness we receive grace for our every need. 6th. The 
 presence of Christ animates us in the discharge of every duty, and 
 enlivens the exercise of every grace, of faith, hope, love, patience, Sec. 
 Lastly, Christ's presence makes sin hateful, our souls humble, the 
 world contemptible, temptations tolerable, self-denial easy, the cross 
 glorious, satan flee from us, hell vanquished, death conquered, the 
 passage to glory delightful, and heaven most earnestly longed for, 
 that without interruption we may be ever present with the Lord. 
 (), use every means to enjoy the Lord's presence. Avoid all things 
 which may cause him to withdraw it: " Grieve not the holy Spirit of 
 (iod."....Lph. iv. 30. 
 
 Our spirits with thy presence bles'?, To know thy love, and feel thy ptace, 
 Thou Lord of all our joy, Creates our heav'n below ; 
 
 That we may walk in righteousncbs, To pray for this we will not cease, 
 Aiid nought our peace destroy. While on to heav'n we go. M. 
 
AUGUST 20. 235 
 
 Earnestly contend for the faith idikh was once delivered 
 unto the saints. ...Jude, 3. 
 
 When Paul was preaching the most important truths of the 
 everlasting gospel at Corinth, he was brought before the judgment- 
 seat and accused for his doctrine. Poor Ciallio would not concern 
 himself about the matter: he looked on it all as a strife of words, 
 and a contention about names. I will be no judge, says he. lie 
 cared for none of these things : his heart was totally unacquainted 
 with the faith of God's saints: but art thou a partaker of like pre- 
 cious faith with the apostles ? And canst tliou be a (rallio too ? Know, 
 if thou wilt not contend for the faith, hell and earth are in arms to 
 contend against it. What is the faith here spoken of? 1st. The 
 doctrines of faith revealed in the word ; the whole scheme of evan- 
 gelical truths, inspired by the Spirit of truth : these are received 
 by faith; are the rule, the wairant, the support, and the glory and 
 joy of faith: such as the doctrine of the trinity in unity : their 
 everlasting covenant of grace: the result of everlasting love to the 
 elect: the incarnation of the Son of Ciod to save us : our regenera- 
 tion by the Spirit : full and complete salvation by grace, 8cc. 2d. 
 The object of faith : Christ received into the heart by faith, by 
 whom we have peace with God, pardon of sin from him, justifica- 
 tion before him, boldness to draw nigh to him, and SMeet fellowship 
 with him. Now these truths arc delivered to, and received by saints. 
 Says Jude, "Beloved, it was needful that I should exhort you".. ..to 
 what? Namely, for the sake of peace and quietness, not to dispute 
 and contend for this faith? No ; but tocoxTKNo k.arnf.sti.v, hear- 
 tily, with warmth of zeal, with a holy glow of aflection, in good 
 earnest. Disciple, improve this word of exhortation. 1st. Consi- 
 der, the doctrines of the gospel and the faith of tliem are of the 
 greatest moment, both to your being and well-being as a christian. 
 Says Luther, "One little point of doctrine is worth more than hea- 
 ven and earth." Some ignorantly call the doctrines of the gospel 
 mere opinions ; just as if it was indifferent whether believed or not. 
 2d. Stand reproved, ye lukewarm Laodicean spirits, who have not 
 a word to say in defence of your most holy faith, but under a pre-' 
 tence for peace, are cool and indifferent about truth. Truth is too 
 great a price to purchase peace at. But, 3d. Remember faith works 
 by love : carry the fire of love into all your contentions: eye Christ 
 in all : aim at his glory by all : pray to have his mind accompany 
 all : with love and pity to all, pray him to bless all you contend with, 
 if perad venture he may give them repentance to the acknowledging 
 the truth.. .. Tit. i. 1. 
 
236 AUGUST 21. 
 
 For the Lord hath called thee, as a ivoman forsaken and 
 grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth ichen thou wast 
 refused, saith thy CTod...'.Isa. liv. 6. 
 
 This Avas literally fulfilled, -when Christ's church was first 
 gathered to him in the days of his flesh. Scarce were the disciples 
 called and inarried to Christ the loving- hridegrooni, by faith, but he 
 was taken away from them hy a sudden and violent death : they were 
 then like a woman bereaved of her afiiectionate husband, who mourned 
 and grieved for her great and affecting loss : they were then as a 
 ■wife of youth just married, and soon became as widows whom the 
 ■world refused and rejected. But here lay all their comfort of faith 
 and joy of hope, the Lord had called them, and he would never 
 forsake them : though death's relentless arm snatched Christ from 
 them, yet his power could not hold him: by his own omnijx)tent 
 power Jesus raised himself; and because of his everlasting love for 
 them, he appeared again \uito them ; and now they are all gathered 
 home to the full enjoyment of their heavenly bridegroom, never, 
 never more to part from him. Disciple, how did the Lord call thee ? 
 Wast not thou as a woman forsaken by thy husband, and grieved in 
 spirit? Wast not the law the wife of thy youth ? Didst not thou 
 live and comfort thyself in its embraces ? When the Lord called thee, 
 did not thy legal hopes and legal comforts forsake thee ? When you 
 found your husband speak sharp to you, and look stern upon you, 
 was not you grieved in spirit ? Was you not disconsolate, at your wit's 
 end? Didst thou not cry out, O wretched that I am ? Did not terror 
 beset thee, and an horrible dread overwhelm thee ? When all hope 
 and help failed, and despair of living by thy first husband came upon 
 thee, O the love of Christ ; then, then he openly and comfortably 
 espoused thee to himself in the sweet bands of faith: he became 
 thine in sen-ible enjoyment ; and thou becamest his before all the 
 world. What if thou art rejected and refused of the world ? What 
 if thou art vileness and deformity in thine own eyes ? Yet the Lord 
 loves thee : he chose thee : he has put his rich robe of righteousness, 
 his glorious garments of salvation upon thee. Now thou art pre- 
 cious in his sight; lovely in his eyes: he has put his holy Spirit 
 within thee : he says of thee, "Thou art all fair my love, there is 
 NO spot in thee.". ...Song iv. 7. " There is no condemnation against 
 thee.".... Rom. viii. I. "There is no separation from my love.".... 
 Rom. viii 39. Be a chaste virgin to thy heavenly bridegroom : write 
 it upon the table of thy heart, "In God is my salvation and my 
 glory : the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God."....Psalra 
 Ixii. 7. 
 
 Yc happy souls, married l)y faith, Daily attend to what he saith, 
 
 To the dear Lamb of God, Think not his deallHgs odd. M. 
 
AUGUST 22. 257 
 
 Why ivcepest tJiou? )Vhom seckcst tliouf...JoJni xx. 15. 
 
 Profession of Christ, without affection to him, leaves the 
 heart in dead formality. What is religion without the affections ? 
 What the highest pretension, the greatest depth of knowledge, 
 Avithout love to our dear Saviour ? Here poor Mary discovers her af- 
 fection to her Lord, by weeping for and seeking after his crucified 
 body. The fire of love in the heart carries out the soul beyond itself. 
 Tell me, Sir, says she to Jesus (supposing him to be the gardener) 
 where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Poor weak 
 being, her affections went beyond her strength ; but, to her in- 
 expressible joy and comfort, Jesus manifested himself to her. 
 This was written for our instruction. Come, ye weeping, seeking 
 souls, learn a lesson of encouragement and comfort to-night, from 
 your sister's conduct and your Lord's dealings with her. Observe, 
 1st. Christ's beloved disciples have their weeping and their seeking 
 seasons. They weep because they love Christ : they seek him be- 
 cause they cannot be liappy without him. So the church, "I sought 
 him whom my soul loveth : I sought him but I found him not.".... 
 Song iii. 1. Still slie goes on seeking: seeking Christ is an evidence 
 of, and discovers love to him ; seeking him sorrowing and weeping, 
 shews the ardency of affection. Poor distressed sinner, who sees thy 
 want of Christ, knows thy all is in him, and cannot be happy without 
 him, know this is from a dart of love : Christ hath wounded and ra- 
 vished thy heart w ith his love : what doth he say to thee ? " Thou hast 
 ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse.".. ..Song iv. 9. O, there is a 
 mutual affection between Christ's heart, and thine. 2d. Jesus was 
 near to Mary, though she knew him not ; he is near to every weep- 
 ing, seeking soul, though they have not the comfort of it. 3d. He 
 discovers his aPlections by his questions : " Why weepcst thou ? 
 Whom seekest thou ?" Our fears are seen ; our sorrows are felt by 
 our sympathizing Lord ; our most silent sighs enter his ears, and 
 pierce his heart : but he will know the cause of our sorrows from our 
 own lips. Then pour out your hearts before him, tell him of your 
 complaints. Do this in the assurance of faith that he Avill manifest 
 himself to you. For, 4th. He did so to Mary : he called her by her 
 name, Mary, which signifies exalted: she was exalted to know 
 Christ's voice, to taste his love, to be his sister and his spouse, to be 
 Hiarried to Christ, and to live in sweet union to him and communion 
 with him. O soul, see whence your seeking, sorrowing frames 
 spring ! See the blessed end in which they terminate. O, bless Jesus 
 for a heart to seek him ; bless him, though you seek him sorrowing. 
 Thy Lord hath assured thee, "every one that asketh receivcth, and 
 he that seeketh findeth."....Luke. xi. 10. 
 
?38 AUGUST 23. 
 
 Tlicy crucified him.. ..Matt, xxvii. 35. 
 
 A short seutcnce, replete witlrthe greatest importance toa world 
 of sinners: each word in it contains matter of sorrow, wonder and 
 joy. Here is a fund for meditation. O christian, time can ncA'er 
 explore its depths: it will be the glory of eternity to sing of, won- 
 der and adore a once crucified Jesus. Let us consider the agents.... 
 the work.. ..and the subject. 1st. The agents, they. Who? An- 
 gels ? No ; they gaze and wonder at the cruel, awful deed, but share 
 not in it. Devils ? No ; they instigate to it, they shout and applaud 
 the deed, but effect it not. No ; the work is done by beings, little 
 lower than the angels, yet not devils, but men. ...men of devilish na- 
 tures, cursed passions, and wicked hands: with these they seize the 
 innocent victim, doomed to direful agonies and accursed death. 2d. 
 The work: they crucified. O the bloody deed ! Heaven that hour 
 let fall a tear. There hangs.. ..who? A man like us ? Yes, but im- 
 maculate, innocent: yea more, the Son of God : God and man in 
 one Christ. The Lord of life and glory hung a spectacle to men and 
 angels: nailed his innocent hands and tender feet to the transverse 
 wood, to bleed, and groan, and die. Say, why? Consider, 3d. The 
 subject, HIM : Jesus Christ, th^ anointed Saviour. As God he lov- 
 ed sinners from all eternity : as man he was born to make sinners 
 righteous by his life, and to take away their sins by his death. The 
 work is done : on the cross he finished it. What are the effects ? 
 Seest thou, O sinner, where hangs all our hope ? 
 Touched by the cross we live. 
 Ever view then, O soul, the sovereign cure of death, the eternal 
 source of life ; God and man in one Christ, on the accursed tree, to 
 make thee blessed and happy. Such is the love of thy Saviour : 
 such is his salvation. Where is your faith? O look and look, and 
 look again, till your whole soul loves him. Is sin your grief, and 
 pain and burden ? O, the load of pain and grief which Jesus bore ! 
 The iniquities of us all: he has taken them all away by his one 
 sacrifice. Remember this : plead this before the Lord ; the faith of 
 this brings hope to the most desperate and vile : the best of saints 
 have no other. With this faith and this hope thou mayest draw 
 nigh to God ; plead boldly before justice itself; challenge the laAV to 
 lay ought to thy charge ; face death ; resist and lepel satan M'ith thy 
 Saviour's dying words, it is finishkd. 
 
 Thy dying love, thy rising pow'r 'Midst a'l my fears, and doubts and 
 My Saviour dear, I'd sing: I-ord, siill superior rise, [woes, 
 
 In thee I'd glory ev'ry hour, That I may triumph o'er my foes, 
 Till thou to glory bring. And meet thee in the skies. M. 
 
AUGUST 24. 239 
 
 Is the Lord among us or 7iot?....Exod. xvii. 7.. 
 
 A VERY awful question to come out of the mouth of any child 
 of God. What was the cause of it? Why ihe Lord tried their 
 fiuth: that fails them: nature murmurs : the flesh wants gratifica- 
 tion: they are athirst : they tempt the Lord: ihey chide Moses: he 
 is in distress: he cries to the Lord, " What shall T do unto this peo- 
 ple ? They be ready to stone me." Mr. Henry judiciously observes 
 here, " they do in effect suppose that Moses was an impostor ; 
 Aaron a deceiver ; the pillar of cloud and fire a mere sham and 
 illusion, which had imposed on their senses; that long series of mi- 
 racles, which had saved, rescued, and fed them, a chain of cheats; 
 and the promise of Canaan a banter upon ihem. It was all so, 
 if the Lord was not among them. Note, it is a great provoca- 
 tion to God, for us to question his presence, providence, or pro- 
 mise, especially for his people to do it, who are so much obliged 
 to trust him." Well might Moses call this place i\I?.ssah and 
 Meribah, that is, temptation and strife. Disciple, wast thou never 
 at Massah and Meribah? Did you never tempt your God, by for- 
 getting his past dealings of love and favor to you ; passing over the 
 sweet experiences of thy soul, in former days of light and liberty, 
 peace and love ; calling all in question, and ready to set all down as 
 mere delusions? Hast thou not been ready to question whether the 
 Lord is with thee or not ? O, if thou hast not, I know one who 
 has, and with grief of soul testifies of it, with shame of face con- 
 fesses it, and with humble prayer would cry, God be merciful to 
 ME a sinner ! O how trying this to a God of patience I How dis- 
 honoring this to a God of love ! But his patience fails not ; his love 
 never changes ; his mercy endureth for ever : may this shame our 
 unbelief. Again, wast thou never at Meribah? At the waters of 
 strife ? Hast thou not contended with the Lord's prophets, as though 
 they had invited thee from the land of nature into the wilderness, 
 to die for thirst after the waters of salvation ? Hast not thou with the 
 Psalmist, "said in thy haste, all men are liars ?....Psalra cxvi. 11. 
 God has forgotten to be gracious : his promise is to come to an end 
 forever : I shall never see the light of the living." I know one who 
 can hold up his hand and plead guilty. O, let us rebuke ourselves 
 for our unbelief ; cry to the Lord for pardon, and to strengthen our 
 faith. And instead of questioning, " Is the Lord among us or not ?" 
 Let us in faith confess, the Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of 
 Jacob is our refuge... .Psalm xlvi. 7. 
 
 Thou aV-t, O Lord, my soul's relief: Thv patience, I.ord, I oft have tried. 
 Thou hast me bless'd with grace : But yet am out of hell ; 
 
 Forgive my sins, my unbelief: Where can I find such love beside, 
 Shew me thy loving face. Matchless, uubearchable! M- 
 
240 AUGUST 25. 
 
 / am found of them that sought me not....Isa. Ixv. 1. 
 
 Every display of the Saviour's grace is a jewel in his mediato- 
 rial crown. O what hearts have we, that we are not more humble 
 before him, more thankful to him, and more joyful in him ! Jesus, 
 help us Gentile sinners to look back, to look within, to look up, and 
 to look forward, to excite humility, thankfulness, and joy of heart. 
 1st. Look back, O my soul: view thy nature state; lying dead 
 afrlcep in the arms of the wicked one, dead to God, under tTie 
 power of sin, in love with the world, blind to the charms of Christ, 
 without a single desire after him, or the least care for thy immortal 
 soul. 2d. Look within, dost thou find affection to Jesus and de- 
 sires after him? Is it the language of thy heart, none but Christ, 
 I look to none but him; I expect salvation from -him and him 
 only ? O, whence this mighty change ? Say, did you first seek Christ, 
 or Christ you ? Did your desires first go out after Christ, or his de- 
 sires towards you ? O, in the fervor of love, you must cry out, pride 
 thou busy foe, avaunt ! I must, I should have gone to hell, without 
 a single desire of salvation by Jesus, if he had not sought me and 
 made himself manifest to me: his grace was firstinthe work. Then, 
 od. Look up, give Jesus the whole and sole glory. O, to think, 
 •when there was nothing in us to invite the loving Spirit down, but 
 every thing to cause him to loath us and to leave us ; yet, O match- 
 less love and sovereign grace ! he shewed us Christ, drawed us to 
 Christ, and caused us to receive Christ. Rejoice, love, adore and 
 praise. Who can resist divine attraction ? Who is proof against 
 divine love ? Who that loves can love enough ? 4th. Look forward, 
 soul ! Heaven is before you : Jesus stands ready to receive you : 
 God the Father to embrace you : God the Son to glory in you : and 
 God the Spirit to triumph over you. Glory shall complete what 
 grace has begun. O, study the grace and love of Jesus, that is our 
 lieaven below ; to praise him for it will be our eternal employ above. 
 But one thing remains, give God the glory of all this amazing 
 grace : study from day to day, and from hour to hour, to do it by the 
 faith of your hearts, the words of your lips, and the obedience of 
 your lives. No consideration whatever can beat down your native 
 pride, sink into genuine humility, animate with holy love to all 
 cheerful obedience, like this, " God commended his love towards us 
 in that while we wercyet sinners, Christ died for us.".. ..Rom. v. 8. 
 
 Then since I have my Siiviour found, The Spirit found me dead in sin. 
 And tasted of his love. And led me unto Christ ; 
 
 I'll tell |)oor sinners all around I fult such jjrecious pow'r within, 
 That the/ its pow'r may prove. 1 could not him resist. M. 
 
AUGUST 26. 241 
 
 / know thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house ap- 
 pointed for all living. ...Job. xxx. 23. 
 
 What sweet familiarity does grace make between God and 
 
 believing sinners ! How freel)' can they speak to him upon that solemn 
 
 event, death. In the exercise of faith, we think of it without 
 
 terror and speak of it with delight. Why so ? Because we have no 
 
 sin and are not sinners? No : but because we know Christ, the friend 
 
 of sinners, who has taken away all our sins, conquered death for us, 
 
 subdued the fear of death in us, brought life and immortality to us, 
 
 and is ever before the throne pleading for us. Yet we kn'ow also, 
 
 HK will bring us to death. O, this is soul-comforting knowledge 1 
 
 What, wilt thou, my loving God, my precious Saviour, who bore 
 
 my sins in thine own body on the tree, bring me to death ? Are the 
 
 issues of life and death in thy hand? Cannot death approach nor 
 
 assault me till thou give him commission anil bring me to death? I 
 
 thank thee, my dear Lord, for this knowledge: then death thou art 
 
 no more the hideous monster, the frightful king of terrors to my 
 
 soul. No : my dear friend brings me to thee, that I may salute 
 
 thee as an angel of love, and kiss thee as a messenger of peace. 
 
 Fond parents carry their children to see fine sights, to delight them: 
 
 they avoid horrid spectacles which would terrify them: so doth 
 
 our heavenly Father by us; he brings us to death that we may see 
 
 and be delighted with the glorious victories of his beloved Son. 
 
 Here we behold him a triumphant conqueror over sin and death, and 
 
 over the devil, who had the power of death. Our Father, God, 
 
 BkiKGS us to the field of battle ; he carries us through it ; he shews 
 
 us the spoils of his Son's glorious conquests: there, says he, see, 
 
 reap and wear the blessed trophies of his victorious cross ; all are 
 
 for you my children ; your enemies are all slain ; a crown of glory 
 
 is won for you eternally to wear ; a kingdom of glory is obtained for 
 
 you, where you shall for ever reign. No sooner are we brought to, 
 
 and carried through the field of battle, but shouts of victory await 
 
 us. Hark, hark to the immortal spirits above : we shall soon be 
 
 brought to join them in eternal shouts of salvation to God and 
 
 THE Lamb. Now, this is the life of faith; believing in Christ the 
 
 fear of death is conqviered, the hope of life is enjoyed, eternal life 
 
 is possessed ; and we cry out, O death where is thy sting? O grave 
 
 where is thy victory ? We have an house not made with hands, 
 
 eternal in the heavens.... 2 Cor. i. 5. 1. 
 
 Why should I fear when God shall say My Father gave his only Son, 
 My son, now you must die ? To conquer death for me : 
 
 I'l! bring thro' death to reign on high This work Christ hath forever done. 
 With me eternally. I shall his glory see. M. 
 
 Gg 
 
242 AUGUST 27. 
 
 Peter said tinto him, Lordy why cannot I follow thee 
 ?iozcP I zvill lajj douH viy life for thy sake...Joh)L 
 xiii. 37. 
 
 Peter seems now in a special frame indeed : all is warmth of 
 love and simshine of joy. Ecstaciea carry us out of ourselves; we 
 forget what we are, where we are, what we are exposed to, and 
 what may soon befal us. Like Peter on the mount, we are apt t» 
 speak without due consideration: we know not what we say: the 
 fire of passion exceeds the bounds of solid judgment. "Why can- 
 not I follow thee now? Let the way be strewed with ever so many 
 difficulties, let never so many dangers oppose, nothing is able to dis- 
 may or dishearten me: I have just now, such fervent love to thee, 
 that I could face death in the most frightful form, and lay down my 
 life with the greatest pleasure for thy sake." Doubtless Peter now 
 thought himself perfect and free from all sin. What thinkest, O 
 soul, is Peter's language becoming him or not? Is it not a noble 
 and generous declaration? Art thou ready to say, I wish I could 
 boldly say so too? Ah, soul! whatever thou mayest think of these 
 high flown expressions, our Lord soon took poor Peter down. Do 
 not be discouraged at hearing professors speak great swelling words: 
 I was once, when a person said, " this world is nothing to me : it 
 is quite under my feet: I have so much love that I care no more 
 about the world than if I was not in it." Lord, thought I, what 
 a wretch am I ! Not fit to be thy disciple. But, alas 1 in a little 
 time, the world attracted that same person (I fear) from Jesus, un- 
 der its power. Beware of self-confidence; live low, lie low, think 
 low, speak low of thyself, let thy frames be what they may. Now 
 hear our Lords reply to Peter: " wilt thou lay down thy life for 
 my sake?" I do not quescion thy sincerity, but I do thy strength: 
 I pity thy vain confidence: I am concerned for thy self-sufliciency : 
 poor vain man, thou hast turned thine eye from my love to thine 
 own, thou Iruslest in the glow of thine afl'eciions, thy confidence is 
 in thy fine frames and warm feelings, instead of my love to thee 
 and my |)owtr to uphold thee: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
 (instead of laying down thy life for me) the cock shall not crow till 
 thou hah-t denied mc thrice." What shall we say to this? Verily, 
 every man at his best state is altogalher vanity. Selah. Contidtr 
 this.. ..Psalm xxxix. 5. And ever rememlxr the unchangeable love 
 of Christ to such poor, vain, changeable creatures. \Vell may he 
 say, " I am tlie Louu, I change not, therefore yc are not consum- 
 ed."....Mal. iii. 6. 
 
 Now warm with love our souls are l)oIil, Love fiHoMs us thro' all our ways, 
 ForChrist wecount all things butloss; Mtlts d)wii and breaks our stubborn 
 Anon, alas, our hearts grow cold. The love of Jesus ne'er decays, [hearts, 
 
 Wc ihrink and Hec from ev'ry cross. But saves us from all hellish arts. M. 
 
AUGUST 28. '^i'i 
 
 Worthy is ilie lMmb....1icv. v. 12. 
 
 This the song, this the glory of angels and redeemed sinners 
 in heaven. To know, believe in, love and follow this Lamb, con- 
 stitutes our heaven upon earth. Sin is our hell : but this Tamb of 
 God takelh away our sin ; then heaven is in our souls. O, that ever 
 we should be ashamed of this Lamb, who is heaven's wonder and 
 heaven's glory ! Is not this thought of being ashamed of God's Lamb, 
 like a dagger to one's heart ? Lamb of God have mercy upon us ! 
 Why is our dear Saviour called a Lamb ? 1st. Because of his im- 
 maculate purity ; he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from 
 sinners, without a spot of sin or stain of impurity. 2d. He was meek 
 and inoffensive like a lamb. A lamb has no weapon of hostility : it 
 never hurts any one: it cannot defend itself against assaults: it be- 
 comes an easy prey : all this Christ was in his life. Therefore, 3d. 
 Like a lamb he was taken and slain: he was the very paschal Lamb, 
 lo take away our sin by his blood. 4th. A slain lamb is precious for 
 food and useful for clothing: so is Jesus: his flesh is meat indeed; 
 his blood is drink indeed ; his righteousness is the clothing of otir 
 souls: we live by feeding on his flesh and blood; we are justified in 
 his righteousness ; our sins are washed away in his precious blood ; 
 our souls are perfect before (lod, in his glorious righteousness. 
 Can you say from your inmost soul, Worthy is the Lamb ! Then 
 you have got the grace of heaven in your hearts. Proclaim it aloud, 
 as they do in glory, with your lips; and shew it forth in your life: 
 . study to walk worthy of the lamb ; look at your sins ; humble yourself 
 before the Lamb ; honor him by believing that he has atoned for 
 them and took them ai,l away from before God, by his blood. Look 
 at yourself as a sinner, whose nature is black as hell and deformed 
 as a devil ; glorify the Lamb for redeeming you to God by his blood, 
 presenting you before God in his righteousness, and making you 
 one with God, by his grace ; look constantly on yourself as a saved 
 sinner by the Lamb ; have nothing to do with any other name under 
 heaven for salvation from sin, death and hell. Of all the faith of 
 your heart, the love of your soul, and glory of your life, worthy 
 IS THK Lamb. ...And, O let it be the daily joy and rejoicing of your 
 spirit, that you, a vile sinner, shall soon join the redeemed around 
 his throne, incessantly and eternally to shout his praise who hath 
 •washed us from our sins in his own blood. 
 
 O for an heart to love and praise More of thy comforts shed abroad, 
 , The Lamb wlio dy'd for sin, O God, the Holy Ghost : 
 
 Who loves and keeps us all our days. That we may love our dying Lord. 
 ...AttdwwtiJki within. And cnicifv each lust. M. 
 
24i AUGUST 29. 
 
 Most gladly, therefore, zvill I rather glory in 7ny ijifir- 
 milks, that the poncr of Christ may rest upon me.... 
 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
 Though Paul is not now in the third heavens, yet he is not con- 
 tent to speak any language below the superlative degree, most 
 GLADLY. O, says he, "I have had the richest experience of my 
 own weakness and impotence that ever I had in my life : I should 
 be most glad every day to be thus emptied and laid low at the feet of 
 Christ, that the all-sufficiency of his grace and the power of his 
 strength might be made perfect in me. What does he mean by in- 
 firmities ? All that weakness, feebleness and inability which he 
 found in his nature to withstand sin and satan, to bear up under his 
 crosses, trials and distresses, to run the way of God's command- 
 ments, to fight the good fight of faith. Sec I will rather glory in 
 these. What means he ? 1 will glory, rejoice and be glad, that self 
 is laid low, my proud nature debased, my self-exalting views brought 
 down, and that I be entirely emptied of all self-suificiency. I will 
 RATHER glory in this, than in any thing else. Why so ? " That the 
 power of Christ may rest upon me.^" When full of the pride of na- 
 ture and self-sufficiency, the soul sees not the need of Christ's grace. 
 A full stomach loaths the honey-comb. When strong in nature's 
 power, the strength of Christ is not sought after : but when satan 
 buffets, infirmities prevail, nature fails and sinks, hope and help 
 from. self forsake us, then the Saviour is sought to; the soul goes 
 right humbly to the Lord. The sinner's extremity is the Lord's 
 opportunity. When Peter begins to sink, self-confidence forsakes 
 hinj, and he cries, Lord save or I perish : then Christ exerts his 
 power and saves him. When satan thinks to buffet Paul out of his 
 faith and hope in the Lord, he only buffets him out of his self-ex- 
 altings and self-confidence: he drives him to the throne of grace; 
 he besought the Lord again and again ; the Lord delivers not, but 
 only tells him, my grace is sufficient for thee: Paul felt the power 
 of Christ resting upon him. Learn hence, O soul, not to be dis- 
 tressed at thy infirmities, a sense of thy weakness and emptiness : 
 glory in them, that Christ may be glorified by thee, in causing his 
 power to rest upon thee ; for, mind that precious word of his, let 
 thy weak and infirm spirit hang upon it from day to day ; " He 
 giveth power to the faint : and to them who have no might he 
 jncreaseih strength. "....Isaiah xl. 29. 
 
 Tho' weak to stand, and prone to fall, When weak and faint we find our heart, 
 Ytt we, alas, are iull of pride! Still will vre glory in thy pow'r: 
 
 O .Saviour dear, on thee we call, Thy strengtb'ning grace shall ne'er de- 
 
 Humble and keep us near thy side. part, 
 
 Iroin thine in their distressing hour. M. 
 
AUGUST 30. 245 
 
 / said in my) haste, all men are liars. . . . Psalm, cxvi. 1 1 . 
 
 Wk arc prone to be too hasty in our censures of others, while 
 the greatest fault lies at our own door. David here brands all men 
 with being liars, when he himself was the greatest liar of all, if wc 
 take the words in this sense. Here, he even charges Samuel the 
 prephet of the Lord with a lie; for he had anointed him to be king 
 and assured him of the kingdom: but he spoke in haste, without 
 due thought and deliberaiion, unadvisedly, under temptation, when 
 he was off" his guard, and fled from the rage of Saul : though some 
 think David rather speaks the bold language of confident faith. I 
 said in my flight, that notwithstanding all the fury of Saul and all 
 the suggestions of my enemitts to the contrary, "Let God be true, 
 but every man a liar.".... Rom. iii. 4. The Lord will surely prescne 
 me: I shall certainly be king. David was the subject both of faith 
 and unbelief; of a hasty spirit, which exalteth folly, as well as of 
 a meek spirit, which in the eyes of the Lord is of great price. 
 Times of temptation sometimes draw from the lips hasty speeches, 
 which wound the heart and cause it to mourn. O believer, though 
 thou hast cause to be ashamed of thy unbelief and hasty folly, yet be 
 not ashamed to confess it: to commit a fault, and strive to extenuate 
 it, proceeds from pride and unbelief. Settle it well in thine heart, 
 what thy present state is: consider daily the number and force of 
 thine enemies: their name is legion, for they are many. Never 
 forget the total sinfulness of thy own nature. All this will make 
 thee humble and watchful over thyself. Know and remember also, 
 the love and faithfulness of thy God and Saviour: he who has re- 
 deemed thee to God, by his own blood, will save thee from thy 
 sinful self and from the power of all thine enemies : say of all who 
 dare contradict this, they are liars. Though weak in thyself, be 
 strong in thy Lord; though sinful in thyself, rejoice that thou art 
 righteous in him. Let the faith of this inspire thy heart with bold- 
 ness before the throne of God ; there go constantly as a poor, help- 
 less, needy sinner, viewing thyself perfectly righteous in Christ and 
 perfectly accepted of God in his beloved Son. Give God the glorj 
 of his truth; pronounce all liars Avho dare oppose it: give no credit 
 to the suggestions of thy own mind, contrary to the full and free 
 declarations of thy Lord's love and grace. Remember, the con- 
 victions of sin by the Spirit of truth are to bring thee to comfort 
 in Christ : the accusations for sin, by the lying spirit, are to distress 
 thy heart and drive thee from Christ, who is the truth. ..John 
 xiv. 6. 
 
 Forgive, my Lord, each hasty word, I foolish am, and self abhorr'd, 
 Against thy truth and grace, O, shew thy smiling face. M. 
 
^46 AUGUST 31. 
 
 Tlwse are flic ic^ords I spake loiio you, luhile 1 n- as yet 
 loiUiyoUi that all things must be fulfilled ivhich icere 
 wrltlen in the law of Moses , and in the prophets, and 
 in the fsabns concerning me, ...Luke xxiv. 44. 
 
 Christ's work was to ful&l all scripture; it is ours to believe 
 that the scriptures are all fulfilled in Christ: hence we are iilled 
 v'ith all joy and peace in believing.... Rom. xv. 13. We complain of 
 tlie weakness of faith : we neglect the means by which it is strength- 
 ened. Faith comes by hearing the word of God ; by it faith is 
 strengthened. That which comes not from the word, and is not 
 supported by the word, is not faith, but phantom: it will soon eva- 
 porate. Our Saviour Mas now risen; his work was finished; he 
 appeals to the understanding of his disciples; he refers them to 
 what he had spoken to them before he died for them. Understand- 
 ing the word in the heart, is like the stomach receiving and digest- 
 ing; food for the whole body ; all parts of it are nourished from it. 
 O, let the word of Christ dwell richly in you: treasure it up in 
 your memories : exercise your understanding upon it ; digest it in 
 your heart: so you will surely be nourished, edified and comforted 
 by it : your faith will grow exceedingly. In what ? Why in what 
 Christ hath fulfilled for you. Are you ready to say, how do I know 
 that he hath fulfilled all things for me ? This is stumbling at the 
 threshold instead of entering in at the door : this is questioning in- 
 stead of believing. Our Lord gives one general answer to this : 
 "According to your faith, be it unto you.".. ..Matt. ix. 29. Believe 
 Christ's words ; believe his work : so shall you enjoy the comforts 
 of his love and salvation ; and be animated to obey his will. See, 
 1st. O christian, you have not followed a cunningly devised fable : 
 your fdith in Christ is agreeable to what is Avrittcn in the law, in 
 the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning him. 2d. Hence re- 
 joice. Is the law fulfilled for you by Christ ? Then are you righte- 
 ous in the sight of God, even as Christ is righteous. Study the purity 
 and perfection of the law of God : fall down in humility as a con- 
 denintd sinner by it : glory in Jesus, as your law-fulfiller, in whom 
 you have everlasting righteousness. 5d. Study the prophets and 
 the Psalms; you will always find somewhat concerning Jesus in 
 them. Know, all that concerns him, is your highest concern upon 
 earth : the more knowledge you get of him, and the more faith in 
 him, so much the mor« will you love him and answer the end of 
 your new creation in him, even to glorify him in your holy life and 
 obedient walk: "This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning 
 you."....l Tliess. v. !8. 
 
SEPTEMBER I. 247 
 
 Vd have an unction from the llo'uj One, and yc knoic all 
 things.... \ John \\. 20. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN may safely indulc^e this covetous wish, to have his 
 head filled with the knowledge and his heart with the love of 
 Christ. What is knowledge without love ? The very devil could 
 say of Christ, " I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God." 
 They have a more distinct knowledge of Christ, believe more of 
 him, and have just as much love to him as Arians, Socinians, and 
 other infidels, who deny his eternal power and godhead, and his 
 self-existent deity. The devils declare, " what have we to do with 
 thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ?" Infidelity in men causes them to 
 give our Saviour no higher name than this, and to allow him to be 
 no more than a piophet, mighty in word and deed: but they will 
 have nothing to do with him as the eternal Son of God, atoning sin 
 by his precious blood, justifying sinners by liis perfect righteous- 
 ness, and finishing salvation for them by his life and death. This 
 is from the teachii^g of the holy Spirit, agreeable to the word of 
 truth. All who receive the truth in love, are christians, or anointed 
 ones of God. 1st. They have an unction. The Son of God was 
 anointed, as well as chosen to his office and work, as our Saviour 
 the holy child Jesus, whom (iod anointed.... Acts iv. 27. So all who 
 arc chosen to salvation, are also anointed of God. ...2 Cor. i. 21. 
 They, as members of Christ, partake in a measure of the gifts and 
 graces of the Spirit, which their Lord and head received without 
 measure.. ..John iii. 34. 2d. This is from the Holy One. This 
 is one of our dear Saviour's names : he is often called by it. None 
 but God is holy: but Christ is the Holy One, therefore he is God. 
 ?.Iind, soul, you are a disciple of a holy Saviour, therefore be holy 
 in your walk. This unction is from the Holy One, received out of 
 the fulness of Jesus: we cannot have any of the gifts and grace 
 of the Spirit, but in, and by, and from the holy Lamb of God. 
 The love of the Father centers in him, and Hows from him to us : 
 the graces of the Spirit are without measure all treasured up in 
 him, and flow from him to us: we receive all grace out of the 
 fulness of Christ. O, let us keep the eye of our faith and the 
 hope of our souls steadily fixed upon our Holy One, Jesus. Let 
 us glorify him and praise the dear Spirit for this unction. This 
 teacheth us, 3d. To kxow all things. O then, saith a poor 
 soul, I have not this unction : I am weak and ignorant: I know 
 notiiing. No! Do you not know that you are a poor, lost, hopeless,, 
 helpless sinner ; that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto 
 himself; that Jesus has finished salvation; and that the Father is 
 well pleased in and with him ? Dost thou know and believe this in 
 thine heart ? Why, " this is life eternal to know the only true God 
 and Jesus Christ.".. .John xvii. 3. 
 
248 SEPTEMBER 2. 
 
 The great trumpet shall be bloitm, and they shall come, 
 zvhich were ready to perish,. ..Isa. xxvii. 13. 
 
 One trumpet has been blown at the giving of the law on Mount 
 Sinai ; the voice of it sounded long and waxed louder and louder: it 
 made even Moses to fear and quake exceedingly and all the people 
 tremble. Soon, very soon, who knows but it may be the next mo- 
 ment, in the twinkling of an eye ? The last trumpet shall sound and 
 the dead shall be raised.... 1 Cor. xv. 52. Tremendous voice! Most 
 solenm sound ! The prophet asks, " Shall a trumpet be blown in the 
 city, and the people not be afraid ?"....Amos iii. 6. If the alarm of 
 war and the approach of an enemy be sounded in the dead of the 
 night, what fear and terror would seize us ? Must we hear the sound 
 of the last trumpet, calling us to judgment ? Blessed, eternally 
 blessed be our God, for the blowing of this great trumpet : it is the 
 sound of great love : it proclaims a great salvation.. ..to whom ? Even 
 to great sinners ; such as see their sins so great, that they are 
 RtADY TO PERISH. The souud of this great trumpet expels the legal 
 fears of the first, and the awful terrors which arise in our minds by 
 the sound of the last trumpet ; for it proclaims, that "the great God 
 is our Saviour, Jesus Christ."....Tit. ii. 13. Our judge is our advo- 
 cate, our Saviour, and friend. Do we see ourselves ready to perish 
 without hope and help in and from ourselves? Are the curses of a 
 broken law upon us, and is the glittering sword of justice bran- 
 dished over us ? The great trumpet sounds. Come, come to Christ, 
 ye sinners, who are ready to perish, and must perish if ye do not 
 come. Saith Jesus, "all that the Father giveth me shall come 
 to me. "....John vi. 37. Therefore, this great trumpet of gospel 
 salvation shall not be blown in vain. Those who never saw them- 
 selves ready to perish can hear neither music nor charms in its 
 sound: it is foolishness to them : but to sensible, perishing sinners, 
 it is a joyful sound to their ears ; it proclaims victory over sin, the 
 law, satan, death and hell, through Jesus, who loved us and gave 
 himself for us. Nor less doth it proclaim holiness than happiness : 
 for it calls us to war with our sins, to peace with God, and to walk 
 in sweet fellowship with God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ.... 
 1 John i. 3. This great gospel trumpet, like those of old, is all of 
 a piece.... Numb. x. 2. It does not give an uncertain sound ; but it 
 proclaims a free, full and finished salvation by Christ, to the glory 
 of God, yea, and amen. 
 
 Tlic pospel, like a trumpet shrill, Though in a lost and fearful state, 
 
 Doth pierce us to the heart, " We to the Saviour come. 
 
 Awakes our souls, subdues cur will He never says, It is too late, 
 ^ I'lom all our sins to part. W'c in his heart find room. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 3. 249 
 
 Joseph sought where to zceep....Gcn. xliii. 30. 
 
 To weep ! What ! When he saw his beloved brother Benja- 
 min and heard that his affectionate, aged father was alive and well ? 
 Yes, the sight of the one and the news of the other, created such 
 an ecstacy of joy in his heart as was too great to bear. He sought 
 where to vent it by tears. O, had one followed good Joseph to his 
 chamber, and heard what passed there between his God and his soul ! 
 Methinks I see the dear man fall prostrate, crying out in a flood of 
 grateful, joyful tears, O what a God do I serve 1 What amazing 
 scenes of his providence have opened to my view ! How has the Lord 
 appeared graciously in my behalf 1 How strangely has he exalted 
 me in life ! And now, to crown all and complete my happiness, I 
 see my beloved brother, and hear of the welfare of my honored father. 
 Doubtless he wept, he prayed, he praised, he rejoiced, he loved, he 
 adored his God, his kind preserver, his bountiful benefactor, his dear 
 Saviour. Methinks, one cannot meditate on Joseph's conduct, 
 without calling to mind some sweet weeping seasons of spiritual 
 joy our souls have been favored with : when in some highly favor- 
 ed moments, the blessed Spirit has brought some joyful tidings 
 of, and some love tokens from our once crucified, but ever-living 
 brother in flesh, Jesus, O then what joy has sprung up in our 
 souls 1 too big for utterance. When he has assured us of his love 
 to us ; that we shall soon see him as he is, be with him where he is, 
 and eternally enjoy him and his Father and our Father in glory ; O, 
 the rapture of this faith ! Then we are ready to fly the world and all 
 its concerns, and even our brethren in Christ too: we seek to be 
 alone to pour out our souls, to give vent to our joy in a flood of joy- 
 ful, loving, grateful tears. Then, like the disciples on the mount, 
 we cry out, it is good to be here: this is sweet : methinks my soul 
 is drowned in tears of love 1 Now, are we not ready to wish, O that it 
 were always thus witli me I But neither Joseph, you, noj- 1, could live 
 under such melting frames, such ecstacy, and in such rapture: the 
 body could not support them : my weak body could not. Neither 
 are they always good for the soul to be in ; if so, we should be al- 
 Avays favored with them. This we are fully assured of: for, " no 
 GOOD THING wiU the Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly." 
 ....Psalm Ixxxiv. 1 1. But these God withholds. You never read of 
 one saint in the bible always in an ecstacy of joy. He who freely 
 gave us his Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all 
 things ?....Rom. viii. 32. 
 
 Dear Saviour, when we feel thy love, We long to be with thee above, 
 Our hearts oft weep for joy: Where passions never cloy. M. 
 
 Vol. H. H h 
 
250 SEPTEMBER 4. 
 
 Blessed is the man that doetJi this, and the son of man that 
 layeth hold on it....Isa.f\\i. 2. 
 
 Many poor blind sinners we meet with, who are saying, do not 
 puzzle me with your points of doctrine. This is my religion, " I 
 do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God." There is 
 scarce a text in the whole bible, so much punned upon and hackneyed 
 by ignorant men, to keep up their vain hopes and self-righteous con- 
 fidence, as this of Micah vi. 8. As a striking instance of their 
 walking humbly with God, they reject the glorious gospel of his 
 grace, set at nought the atonement and righteousness of his Son, 
 ridicule the inspiration of his Spirit, and walk in the pride of their 
 hearts, fulfilling the lusts of their flesh. They are cursed by the 
 mouth of the Lord. But here is the only blessed man described by 
 him. 1st. In his doing.. ..What? Justick. He has a sincere regard 
 to do every thing Avhich is moral, just and good. Without this, 
 know, ye professors of faith, your religion is vain ; ye are not the 
 blessed of the Lord : " Faith without works is dead. "....James ii. 26. 
 2d. He KEEPS JUDGMENTS. He retains a right judgment of him- 
 SELF, that he is a poor miserable sinner : of sin, that it is exceed- 
 ing sinful, most hateful to a holy God, and has made him most 
 abominable in his sight: of the law, that by it he is cursed, 
 and by it he can never be justified, for he can never fulfil it : ot 
 God, that he has concluded him under sin, that he might have 
 mercy on him and freely justify him through the grace of Jesus. 
 Am I this blessed man ? Pause and consider. It is necessary to 
 our blessedness to know our curse : the blessed Spirit convinces of 
 it. 3d. That we may "lay hold on this." What? " My salvation, 
 the salvation of God's Son, finished for the hopeless sons of Adam. 
 " My righteousness revealed :" whereby God is just, and yet the 
 justifier of every imgodly, unrighteous sinner, who by faith lays 
 hold of this righteousness. All such sons of men are the blessed 
 sons of God. O, rejoice in your blessed state : glory in it : give 
 God the glory of it. But legal hearts and self-righteous spirits will 
 be ever buzzing, what becomes of good works and a holy life ? We 
 answer, (iod not only justifies us by grace, but sanctifies by his 
 Spirit. The grace of God, which brings salvation to us, teaches us 
 to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righte- 
 ously and godly in this present world. ...Tit. ii. 12. 
 
 This is the one, the only way, In him we find a spring of hope, 
 For sinners to be blest, A sense of joy and peace, 
 
 To Hee fn m sin without delay, Tliis keej)s our sinking spirits up, 
 And refug« take in Christ. Till hence we get release. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 5. 251 
 
 The apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith.... 
 Luke xvii. 5. 
 
 Natural men tauntingly say, " O, you don't mind good works, 
 faith is to do every thing for you." Truly faith is all, for it includes 
 the object of faith, the Lord. For, indeed, faith has no existence 
 •without its object. Consider, 1st. Is it not a good work to forgive 
 an ofiending brother ? This is what our Lord here teaches. The 
 apostles were made truly sensible that they could not do this with- 
 out faith ; nay, not without the increase of faith ; therefore they 
 prayed for it. Real believers are created in Christ Jesus unto good 
 works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in 
 them....Eph. ii. 10. They area peculiar people, zealous of good 
 works.. .. Tit. ii. 14. Thus they love to glorify their heavenly Father. 
 2d. They know, that all good works proceed from faith and from 
 the increase of faith : for Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.... 
 Eph. iii. 17. This is the source and spring of all comfort, and 
 every good work. Without this, what is life to a christian ? Verily 
 but an uncomfortable breathing, not worthy the name of life. Christ 
 dwelling in the heart constitutes heaven upon earth. Just as un- 
 comfortable as this world would be, if the sun were blotted out of 
 heaven, would the christian be without the in-dwelling of Christ. 
 How hast thou found thy soul, O christian, this day ? Hast thou 
 found Christ in thee, the hope of glory? If not, it is for want of 
 faith. If thou hast, dost thou not desire to enjoy more of it ? It is 
 tQ be had by the increase of faith : pray for it. 3d. Faith sickena 
 the soul to the love of sin and the love of this world. The increase 
 of faith kills the love of both : " For this is the victory, even our 
 faith.".... 1 John V. 4. 4th. Faith brings the prospect of heavenly 
 glory into view. The increase of faith brings fuller assurance to our 
 hearts of our enjoyment of it, quickens our diligence in the way to 
 it, excites ardent desires in our souls after the full fruition of it, 
 that we may be absent from the body and present with the Lord. 
 5th. See who is the author and finisher of our faith. Do you com- 
 plain, that your faith is weak and your corruptions strong? Remem- 
 ber, that dear Christ who died for your sins can strengthen your faith : 
 look unto Jesus : cry unto him to increase your faith ; so shall your 
 heart be happy, your life holy, and your soul strong in the grace 
 that is in Christ Jesus... .2 Tim. ii. 1. 
 
 Jesii, thou author of our faith, O'er all our lusts, and reas'ning pride. 
 Increase its pow'r we pray ; May precious faith prevail, 
 
 O make us faithful unto death ; Looking to Christ, and none beside : 
 Live in us ev'ry day. Our Christ within the vaiU M. 
 
252 SEPTEMBER 6. 
 
 Behold mi) hands and mvfeet, that it is I ?ni/sclf....Ln/te 
 xxiv. 39. 
 
 Onf Amintas liad done valiant acts, and lost part of bis arm 
 in the field of battle for bis country's good. His brother iKcbyluSs 
 ■was like to be condemned to die. Amintas came into court, speaks 
 not a word, but only lifted up the stump of his arm -without a hand, 
 as though he had said, see what I have lost in my country's cause : 
 his silent oratory prevailed and saved his brother's life. "What a 
 much more affecting sight does our dear Lord now present to his 
 disciples I He called upon them, he calls upon us to behold : they 
 by the eye of sense ; we by the eye of faith. Consider the reasons 
 for this, 1st. To compose and comfort their minds: they were ter- 
 rified and affrighted: they took him for a spirit. Christ is touched 
 w iih the feeling of our infirmities : he sympathizes with us" in all our 
 troubles. One cause of them is misapprehension of the nature of 
 Christ, we too ofi forget that he was a perfect man, like unto us 
 in all things, except sin : "Behold my hands and my feet with the 
 nail prints in them. It is I myself." The very same man, with 
 the same flesh and blood, who lately hung upon the cross. Handle 
 me: feel me. 2d. It was to confirm their faith, in his dying for 
 their sins and rising again for their justification : he died as a Aveak 
 man : he rose as the almighty God : as God-man he atoned for sin, 
 conquered death and hell for us. The faith of this is the source of 
 all hope and the spring of all peace to our souls. 3d. He says, 
 Bf.hold, Sec. to quicken our love. O soul, can you behold by faith, 
 and think of the love and sufferings of Jesus for your salvation, and 
 not love him ? His pierced body, hands and feet, are the marks of 
 his great love and agony of sufferings for you. O love, rejoice and 
 adore. Does he not deserve the whole love of our heart, and the 
 sole affections of our soul ? Behold, 4th. That all your hope may 
 be in him. Beware of that cursed notion of pride, which some ad- 
 vance ; they pretend to believe in Christ for the pardon of sin, but 
 for their final justification, hope in their own works. No, my Lord, 
 the sin-atoning, law-fulfilling, soul-justifying work is thine, and thine 
 alone. I will hope in no other. My soul, I charge thee fix, con- 
 stantly fix all thy attention, for all thy hope, upon thy once pierced 
 Lord. My conscience, I charge thee, when base intruders would 
 rival his glory, banish them, cry with abhorrence, get ye hence: 
 " What have I to do any more with idols ?"....Hos. xiv. 8. 
 
 Behold, my soul, the scars and wounds Say faith, what answer dost tljoii give ? 
 AVhich Jesus in his body uore : Pardon and peace unto my heart, 
 
 See how his jtrecious love abounds, That to Cliriit's glory I should live, 
 Think of ihy sins. ...'twas them he bore. And never from his love depart. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 7. 25J 
 
 Peter said, Man, I liiioK not zvhat thou sa\jest....lAike 
 xxii. 60. 
 
 No, Peter! Why, he speaks plain enough: he is confident 
 of thy person, knows thy voice, and the very brogue of thy tongue: 
 he boldly affirms, " Of a truth thou wast with Jesus." This is a 
 downright lie, to say, "I know not what thou sayest." Peter is 
 ashamed of his Lord. Is he not ashamed of himself? Not yet. 
 lie lied horridly : next, he curses and swears bitterly. Might we 
 not expect to hear next he was damned eternally ? He deserved it. 
 Was he here now, he would confess it from the very ground of his 
 heart; but he is above, confessing his desert of damnation, and 
 ascribing salvation to God and the Lamb. For, "the Lord turned 
 and looked upon Peter." O, who can say what there was in that 
 turn and that look! Lord, give us to feel some of the grace and 
 ])ower of it, that we may improve it. Consider, 1st. Sin is sin, in 
 God's saints, as well as others : yea, their sins exceed all others : 
 yes, and God sees sin in them too as well as others ; and he will 
 surely punish them for sin too. Let us not be wise above what is 
 written. Saith the Lord, " you only have I known (with the love of 
 •a tender father) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will 
 punish you for ai.i, your iniquities. "....Amos iii. 2. Who can say 
 ■what a hell of agonies Peter felt when he wept bitterly ? He fully ex- 
 perienced that truth, which he after preached to others ; " judgment 
 must begin at the house of God.".... 1 Pet. iv. 17. 2d. See what 
 this judgment is: not damnation for sin, but condemnation for sin 
 in the heart and conscience : the sight of it ; feeling, mourning, 
 groaning under a sense of it ; looking up to God with a broken 
 heart, a contrite spirit, a sorrowful soul, sighhig out, " against 
 thee, O Lord, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight." Nothing 
 but thy blood, O Jesu, can cleanse mc. O, my God, let thy grace 
 pardon me and thy Spirit comfort me. 3d. What affects any sinnei' 
 thus? The Saviour's turning and looking upon the soul. Sin natu- 
 rally hardens the heart and sears the conscience. Peter, after his 
 awful fall, would have run away from Christ; given himself up to 
 the service of sin and satan, till he fell into hell, if the Lord had 
 left him to himself. So would you and I. But Jesus turns from 
 his anger against our sins ; turns to us in love. He looks : instead 
 of frowning us into black despair and eternal damnation, he looks 
 with love ; he speaks love into our hearts ; he melts our hearts with 
 his gracious, loving looks, into sorrow and remorse for our sins, 
 and with hopes of mercy and pardon from his loving heart; "for 
 where sin abounded, grace much more abounds.".... Rom. v. 20. 
 
 Who knows the bitterness of sin. His look can break the hardest heart, 
 
 But those who see the love of Christ ? Sin to confess, and sin resist. M. 
 
254 SEPTEMBER 8. 
 
 I knoio that mij Redeemer livetli....Job xix. 25. 
 
 Matters are sometimes brought to a close point between God 
 and the soul: it is stript of all its comforts : the soul is in heaviness 
 ....iPet. 1.6. It is broken in the place of dragons and covered 
 with the shadow of death, as the Psalmist most affectingly paints 
 the scenes of horror and affliction. ...Psalm xliv. 19. So that as he 
 says, *' I had fainted, unless I had believed.".. ..Psalm xxvii. 13. No- 
 thing within, nothing without, for the soul to stay itself upon, but 
 the word of the Lord and the Lord revealed in the word. Then is 
 that sweet word fulfilled, "They shall hang upon him all the glory 
 of his father's house. "....Isa. xxii. 24. This was Job's tried, tempt- 
 ed, afflicted, yet blessed state : though all his comforts are dead) 
 still his Pvedeemer liveth: in the midst of all his losses, he had not 
 lost this blessed knowledge : I know it is a matter of the greatest 
 certainty to my soul ; I am as sure of it as of my existence, that 
 there is a Redeemer for lost sinners ; I know he is my Redeemer ; I 
 have seen my want of him, and my certain destruction without his 
 redemption: he liveth; while he lives, my hopes cannot die, my 
 soul cannot despair; stript of all things beside, nothing can sepa- 
 rate me from the love of Christ ; I know Christ liveth at the right 
 hand of God for me, because he liveth in my heart by faith. Such 
 is the language of this Old Testament saint. Says Luther, " I had 
 utterly despaired, had I not known that Christ was head of the 
 church.." "Head over all things to his body the church. "....Eph. 
 i. 22. But how doth a soul know, with Job, that Christ is my Re- 
 deemer, so as to say, with Paul, he loved me and gave himself for 
 MK ? By the word of grace we know there is a Redeemer ; by th© 
 testimony of the Spirit of truth, through faith, the sinner is ena- 
 bled to say he is mine, imy beloved, my friend ; these are two infal- 
 lible evidences of this. Christ has both our hearts and our hopes: 
 ©ur heart is set upon him: our hopes center in him. 1st. Christ 
 is precious to our hearts: we have fellowship with him by faith ; we 
 know that he liveth, because wc enjoy the comforts of liis life and 
 love in our souls ; we know him both as dying for us and also as 
 living in us ; he dwells in our hearts by faith ; he sends us love to- 
 kens ; he draws our affections to himself, from the world of sin and 
 vanity. 2d. Our hopes are in him; his Spirit gives us to see such 
 an infinite perfection in his glorious work and finished salvation, as 
 sickens us to every other hope ; yea, kills self-righteousness and self- 
 confidence : " We become dead to the law by the body of Christ." 
 ....Rom. vii. 4. We may as soon place our confidence in the righ- 
 teousness of the thief on the cross, as in any righteousness of our 
 own : " We know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath 
 given U6."....I John iii, 24. 
 
SEPTEMBER 9. 255 
 
 Chi'ist spake this parable unto certain zcho trusted in 
 themselves that they ivere righteous.. ..Luke xviii. 9. 
 
 Christ came into the world to save sinners from their sins, 
 into all holiness of heart and life: his gospel requires the strictest 
 purity in walk and conversation : those wlio have experienced its 
 power, find their souls formed for this : yet a self-righteous spirit 
 is as odious to Christ and as contrary to the genius of his gospel as 
 profuneness ; hence he spake this parable against such. See, 1st. 
 Who are here reproved. Every one who places his tnast or confi- 
 dence in any works of righteousness which he has done, or can do, 
 to make himself righteous before God, or to justify himself, first or 
 last, in whole or in part in God's sight. Such are properly pliarisees, 
 or self-righteous persons. Lord, keep our souls humble before thee, 
 that we fall not into this cursed pride and dangerous delusion. But 
 such say, we do not trust in what we can do of ourselves, but what 
 we are enabled to do by the grace of God : so this self-righteous 
 pharisee said, " God I thank thee that I am not as other men are." 
 Here Hes the very essence of this delusion ; for lh6 holiest saint in 
 Christ, is yet a sinner himself, and his nature is as wicked as other 
 men's are. The man, who does not see, and confess, as taught by 
 Christ. ...Luke, xviii. 1 1.... (after all that he is by grace, and all that 
 he has done by assisting grace) " Lord I am an unprofitable servant," 
 is blinded by self-righteousness ; has never seen the purity and spiri- 
 tuality of the law of God, the abominable vileness of his own 
 nature, the glory and perfection of Christ's righteousness, and the 
 necessity of his being found in it, and clothed with it, to be justified 
 before God : such have not been convinced of sin and of righteous- 
 ness, by tlie Spirit of truth, the glorifier of Jesus. See, 2d. The 
 evil of this spirit of self-righteousness. 1st. Such are Antinomi- 
 ans: they are against and make void the law ; though they do not 
 fulfil it, nor can be made righteous by it, yet they trust in them- 
 selves that they are righteous contrary to it: for it condemns them 
 as sinners. 2d. They are enemies to justification by God's grace 
 through the righteousness of Christ. Like the Jews of old, they 
 *' have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge : for they 
 being ignorant of God's righteousness, (that which the Son of God 
 wrought out, which fulfilled the law of God, which ho imputes to 
 sinners, and by which he justifies sinners) and going about to esta- 
 blish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to God's 
 righteousness. "....Rom. x. 2, 3. Here is ignorance and unbelief. To 
 which, 3d. Is joined pride. They are of a diflerent spirit to the 
 humble Jesus. He loves sinners ; " they despise others.".. ..Sel: 
 Isa. Ixv. 5. 
 
256 SEPTEMBER 10. 
 
 By llie obedience of one, (or hi) one obedience) shall inanij 
 be made righteous.. ..Rom. v. 19. 
 
 Joyful truth to miserable sinners. O, that this word was 
 ever upon our minds, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 
 are, your ways my ways, saith the Lord."....Isa. Iv. 8. Our thoughts 
 are to make ourselves righteous by our own obedience : and our ways 
 are, to be justified before God by our own righteousness : but the 
 Lord calls us to forsake these unrighteous thoughts as well as wicked 
 ways, and to submit by faith to his thoughts and his ways, to be 
 made righteous by the obedience of one. Consider, 1st. This 
 negative is implied, no obedience but one can make any sinner righ- 
 teous. O sinner, what art thou seeking after, and striving to be 
 and to do ? What is the end of thy praying, reading, hearing, com- 
 municating, striving against sin and to excel in obedience ? &c. Is 
 it to make thyself righteous ? Then it all proceeds fi'om unbelief of 
 this truth, by one obedience shall many be righteous, and by no 
 other obedience whatever. •■' Then," say some, " there is an end to 
 all good works." No : from the faith of this all good works begin. 
 There is indeed an end to all the evil works of unbelief, which are 
 done to supplant the one spotless obedience of Christ, in making 
 sinners righteous, to the establishing the filthy rags of man's righ- 
 teousness. Taught by the Spirit of truth, through faith, my soul 
 abhors this: I firmly believe " whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.".... 
 Rom. xiv. 23. " Works which do not spring of faith in Jesus Christ, 
 have the nature of s\n.".. ..Churc/i Jrticle XIII. Hence, O my soul, 
 no obedience of thine, before faith in Christ, can make thee righte- 
 ous. Obedience after faith doth not make thee righteous ; for then 
 thou art made righteous by the one obedience of Christ. Settle this 
 matter well in thy conscience ; the glory of thy God and the com- 
 fort of thy soul spring from it. For, 2d. It is positively asserted, 
 " By THE obedience of one : or the one obedience of Christ, shall 
 many be made righteous." The faith of God's elect takes the com- 
 fort of this, and will love Christ, live upon his righteousness, and 
 give him the glory of it. But, 3d. Who are made righteous by 
 Christ's ONE obedience? Many: " The many sons whom Christ 
 shall bring to glory. "....Heb. ii. 10. Even all who see themselves 
 miserable sinners, and believe in Christ for righteousness, unto 
 justification of life. What a glorious way is this of making sinners 
 righteous I 1st. It secures all the glory to Christ. 2d. It keeps the 
 sinner humble before him, dependent on him, and prevt.'its all self- 
 righteous boasting. While, 3d. It gives the poor sinner greatest 
 boldness, with access of confidence to God. 4th. It inspires warm 
 love to Christ, and the cheerful obedience of faith. 
 
SEPTEMBER 11. 257 
 
 Behold this dreamer Cometh. ...Gen. xxxvii. 19. 
 
 James says, " The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." 
 ^i.James iv. 5. This is fully manifest in the conduct of Joseph's 
 brethren against him. Joseph seemed an open hearted lad, simple 
 and without guile : if he had not told his dreams, he had not raised 
 his brethren's envy ; but the Lord's hand was in it : no thanks to 
 them : their cruelty to Joseph raised him to the greatest eminence 
 and saved them from death by famine. Thus the Lord brings good 
 out of evil. Methinks I see young Joseph coming towards his breth- 
 ren, and they looking upon him with an air of the greatest contempt 
 and derision, saying, "Behold this dreamer cometh 1" There, that's 
 he, that we are all to bow down to, worship and serve ; look at this 
 mighty dreamer of foolish dreams. St. Paul, in enumerating the 
 sufferings of the faithful, says, "Others had trials of cruel mock- 
 iNGs."....Heb. xi. 36. Sampson by the Philistines: Elisha by the 
 children, whom the bears devoured: David by Michal, Sec. But 
 who of all the sons of men ever had trial of such cruel mockings as 
 the Son of God. Know then, O disciple, thou art not to be above 
 thy master: it is sufficient for thee to be as thy master. Expect 
 cruel mockings. Wast thou never mocked and derided for thy pro- 
 fession? Then thou hast reason to fear thou hast not been faithful to 
 thy Lord, else surely the world would have seen that thou hast been 
 with Jesus, and as verily as they mocked him they would deride thee. 
 Though you need not cast your pearls before swine; or as Joseph 
 did, tell ALL the dealings of God with your soul, to the men of the 
 world ; yet if you dare make an open profession of salvation by the 
 free grace of God, through Jesus only, your name will be up, mock- 
 ings will be your portion ; yea, men will say of thee, as Josepli's breth- 
 ren did of him, " Behold this dreamer cometh." See that vision- 
 ary, enthusiastic fool: he dreams that he is one of God's elect; 
 that he has got the witness of the Spirit ; that he is sure of going to 
 heaven, not for his works, but by grace, through faith only. Such 
 honor have all God's saints. Pray now, who would wish, who 
 would strive to escape it ? Would you lose a badge of your profes- 
 sion, a mark of honor that you are the followers of the once mocked 
 and derided Son of God? But beware of being deceived, like those 
 of old, with "the visions of their own heart.".. ..Jer. xxiii. 16. But 
 glory in the heavenly vision, the vision of the Spirit, the vision of 
 faith: let men mock on; let devils envy; yet the vision of faith is 
 for an appointed time. Cruel mockings are only for a short season : 
 soon, very soon, you shall receive the end of your faith, tlie salva- 
 tion of your soul, and be exalted far above Joseph at Pharaoh's 
 court: you shall be with Jesus above, where all is harmony, peace 
 and love. 
 
 Vol. IL Ji 
 
258 SEPTEMBER 12. 
 
 -6"//^ said truth. Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumhs xvhich 
 fall from their master s table.. ..Matt. xv. 27. 
 
 Here is blessed reasoning : it produced admiration in the Lord z 
 " O woman, great is thy faith !" It obtained a free grace grant from 
 him also: " Be it imto thee, even as thou wilt." Great faith ! How 
 docs it appear ? We do not find she came to Christ in full assurance 
 of faith, saying, I know thou art my Saviour, 1 am assured thou 
 hast loved me and wilt save me. No. Still there was great faith 
 without this. Look at her faith : imitate it: she honored the Lord 
 by it ; he honoi-s her for it. 1 st. She was in trouble : she flics in- 
 stantly to Christ: she tells him of her sorrows : "Have mercy upoi> 
 me, O Lord, for my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." 
 To cry to Jesus for mercy, under a sense of being vexed with a devil, 
 is the prayer of faith, and honors the Lord of glory. 2d. Here are 
 great discouragements: Christ answers her not a word: the disci- 
 ples desire him to cure her, that ther might get rid of her : but 
 Jesus answers, (not her, but his disciples) "I am not sent, but to 
 the lost sheep of the house of Israel."' Was not this repufse enough 
 to strike her dumb and send her away in despair? But, 3d. Instead 
 of this, her faith grew stronger and her importunity greater. She 
 falls at his feet, withy Lord help me. O^ that was putting it home 
 to the loving heart of our dear Lord : she brouglvt her case to a point : 
 Jesus, you can help me : none but you can: if you do not, I an^ 
 miserable. Have you no compassion for a poor miserable sinner? 
 Lord'help me. Thus casting herself upon the Lord's love and power, 
 she at last gets an answer from him: but O, such a one as was 
 like a dagger to her heait, " It is not meet to take the children's 
 bread, and cast it to the dogs." Now, docs she turn away like a 
 dog ? No. 4th. She had got a child's heart and a child's faith too: 
 for she again puts her case home to the Saviour's heart. Mark it : 
 I am a dog, a filthy, unclean creature; let me be fed as such upon 
 the falling crumb : I know I do not deserve even that from thee. 
 See what perseverance, faith and prayer will do : it overcomes all 
 difficulties, surmounts all objections, obtains the sought for mercy. 
 Some in our day would have thought this woman undervalued her- 
 self : but Jesus humbles those sinners to the very lowest whom he 
 )aises to the very highest. O, take up this resolution, " I will wait 
 upon the Lord who hideth his face : I will look for him."....Isa. 
 viii. ir. 
 
 Tho' vile, tlio' hopeless is my case, Tho' he don't grant at Trst my suit, 
 
 And in mystlf I've nought to plead; Yet will 1 hope, believe and pray: 
 
 Yet will 1 look tojesu's grace. My soul be still importunate, 
 
 lie has all fulness for my need Tho' wretched, he ne'er sends away. M» 
 
SEPTEMBER 13. 259 
 
 Where/or/;, lift up the hands ichich Jiang down, and the 
 feeble knees..., Heb. xii. 12. 
 
 Are you saying, ray troubles are many, my burden is great, 
 and hope deferred makes my heart sick ? True, a faint l>eart makes 
 weak hands and feeble knees: then afflictions become intolerable, 
 <luty tiresome, prayer irksome, the ordinances like dry breasts, the 
 lamp of spiritual life seems expiring, the poor sinner grows deject- 
 ed and dispirited, is ready to give up hope, and to give way to des- 
 pondency. The coMFORTKR inspires a work for such, "lift up your 
 hands," &c. Do you say, the advice is good, but the practice hard? 
 Paul supposes it : for he introducelh it with wherekore. O, I 
 tlearly love these scripture adverbs 1 Much courage and comfort are 
 got by attending to them. Wherefore, or for which reason, lift up 
 your weak hands, or the weak hands of others. Consider why, or 
 Avherefore, we should do this. 1st. We have Jesus to look unto for 
 patience. He is the author and finisher of our faith ; he bore our 
 sins ; he hath for ever took aAvay the curse due to them ; he has 
 made our peace with God ; God is in him reconciled to us. He who 
 endured the cross for our sins, and despised the shame of being 
 treated as a malefactor, in love to our persons, is now before the 
 throne of God praying for us. O, J.liis look is reviving! 2d. Con- 
 sider Jesus, the captain of our salvation, lest ye be weary and faint. 
 He was made perfect through sufferings, that he might bring many 
 sons unto glory. He is bringing you, through much tribulation, 
 into his kingdom. Consider the love and sorrows of Jesus for you. 
 Look on yourself as a suffering member of a once suffering head : 
 so shall your weak mind be strengthened and your weary mind re- 
 freshed. 3d. Forget not, but consider the exliortation. My Sox. 
 Precious application ! God is your Father ; he loves you with the 
 same everlasting and \mchangeable love as he did his only begotten 
 Son: he treats you in love : he chastises you as his child. Why? 
 Because he is in wrath against you ? No ; but to make you more like 
 himself in iMjliness. O then lift up your hands to your brother Jesus, 
 your Father God, in confident faith, in humble prayer. Though all 
 within is clouded dejection, yet all above is sun-shine, joy, peace, and 
 consolation. Cpusider your hope ; *' It is as an anchor of the soul." 
 On what is it fixed? It enteretli into that within the vail, whither 
 the fore-rupner is for us entered, even Jesus.. ..Heb. vi. 19,20. 
 
 When knees are weak, and hands hang Then let our sighing hearts to Christ, 
 And we can't run nor pray, fdown, In faith and hope ascend : 
 
 Still Jesus is before the thronp And all our doubts and fears resist. 
 
 For us, tho' weak, each day. Christ is our faithful friend. M. 
 
260 SEPTEMBER 14. 
 
 He saw his glory, and spake of him.... John xii. 41. 
 
 Ministers who do not preach Christ, sinners who do not speak 
 of Christ, are objects of pity, not of our wrath : their eyes are 
 blind to his matchless glory : their hearts do not understand his un- 
 paralleled love. But consider, 1st. When once Christ's glory is dis- 
 played and his love believed in the heart, the tongue will speak of 
 him. So Isaiah found it. So did that poor woman of Samaria, " she 
 ran into the city," she catcheti hold of one and another, she eagerly 
 cried, "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did, is 
 not this the Christ?" Surely it is, what think ye?.. ..John iv. 29. 
 She had sweet experience. Here was no self-exalting ; no cry, see 
 me, admire me ; what fine experience I have got! One is some- 
 times grieved to I'ead or hear people tell of their experiences, when 
 they lend only to make the poor sinner appear as somewhat glorious 
 in his own eyes, and to be admired by his fellow sinners : this is not 
 right. If the sinner's vileness is not fully explored, and the Sa- 
 viour's glory ONLY exalted, such souls know not as they ought to 
 know ; such experiences are not profitable, they are not worth at- 
 tending to. 2d. When sinners see Christ's glory, they will speak 
 of him to God the Father; they will come in his name ; they will 
 plead his blood only for the pardon of sin, his righteousness alone 
 for the justification of their souls, his intercession for their obtaining 
 every blessing in earth and heaven. Thus we can come boldly to a 
 throne of grace ; thus we expect freely to obtain mercy to relieve us, 
 and grace to comfort us : thus Ave are sure, perfectly sure, Ave are 
 welcome to God : for he hath told us so. It pleased the Father, that 
 in Christ all fulness (of grace and glory) should dAvell....Col. i. 19. 
 " That out of his fulness Ave should receive. "....John i. 16. Having 
 seen Christ's glory, Ave come to him for this grace. For, 3d. The 
 sight of Christ's glory blinds us to our own fancied glory. The more 
 Ave sec of Jesus, the less Ave like ourselves: Ave groAV out of conceit 
 Avith ourselves. \V' hat glory is there in a filthy dunghill, a cage of 
 imclean birds, a nest of serpents, toads and adders ? Worse, inex- 
 pressibly Avorse are Ave than all these. Our natures are half beast 
 half devil. Yet, astonishing love ! Jesus displays the glory of his 
 grace to us. Nothing but unbelief prevents our beholding it : " Said 
 I not unto thee, if thou woiildest believe, thou shouldcst see my 
 glory ?".... John xi. 40. 
 
 When 1 my Saviour's glory see My tongue is looG'd to speak his fame, 
 
 Itcvcalcd in the word to faith, And tell poor sinners all around, 
 
 My sniil is full of ecstacy, That they with me may know his name, 
 
 1 dwell with joy on what he saith, And say, I've precious Jesus found, M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 15. 261 
 
 Put of the old man..,.Eph. iv. 22. 
 
 People who love money better than a good conscience, make 
 nothing of putting off base and counterfeit coin. Christian, you 
 may safely imitate ihcm, in putting off the base old man : the more 
 the love of Christ is in you, the more will you do it. 1st. What is 
 meant by this old man? Corrupt nature, which was born with you, 
 is part of you, lives in you, and will never be dead so long as your 
 body lives. Though near six thousand years old, yet he is very 
 strong and vigorous at times : yea, though you are a child of God 
 and a member of Christ, he wants to have the mastery over you : 
 you could never have conquered him had not Christ crucified him. 
 Though crucified, you can never subdue him, but by the strength 
 of Ciirist : nor you cannot put him off, but I)y the grace of Christ ; 
 for he clings and twines round you like a serpent; yet you are com- 
 manded to put him off. This is your duty from day to day. But 
 it is not by your might nor power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. 
 2d. Why are you called upon to put him off? 1st. Because all his 
 reasonings are corrupt, his every suggestion is totally evil : he 
 would corrupt the gospel, pervert its truths, reject its promises, and 
 defy its threatcnings. 2d. All his lusts or desires are deceitful : he 
 deceives by the pride of self-righteousness as well as by gross sins. 
 3d. He is an enemy to thy Lord, a supplanter of his glory, and a 
 rival of thy faith in him, peace from him, and ol)edience to him. 
 If you cherish him, you lose the comfort ef your best friend's pre- 
 sence. If you reason with him, you perplex your mind and lose 
 the simplicity of faith. If you follow his promise of liberty, you 
 will get into bondage: "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.".... 
 Rom. viii. 13. 3d. What is implied by putting off the old man? 
 1st. That he always continues the same ; he is never changed for 
 the belter. 2d. That he always remains alive in you. But, 3d. 
 That you should put him down from his seat of rule over you ; put 
 him off in your thoughts, walk and conversation, just as you would 
 an old filthy garment ; or like an odd, troublesome, intruding old 
 man, who would knock at your door, and want admittance to you. 
 Put him off, with this reply, I have the blessed company of the new 
 man, Christ Jesus ; here is no admittance for you : " I have put on 
 the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true 
 holiness.".. ..Eph. iv. 24. Put off the old man, by humble faith and 
 earnest prayer, ever remembering, I can do all things, through 
 Christ's strengthening me....Phil. iv. 13. 
 
 Strange is the mystery of grace ! In Christ I am completely bless'd, 
 Tho' I am a creature new, Tho' curs'd with sin and strife, 
 
 Yet still I find thro' all my days, From the old man whom I resist, 
 The old man in me too. O when will end his life. M. 
 
262 SEPTEMBER 16. 
 
 Let the iccak say, I am strong.... Joel iii. 10. 
 
 Where is the weak doubting sinner? Stand forth my soul ; thy 
 Lord arraigns thee, he judges and passes sentence of reproof upon 
 thee: "O thou of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt ?".... Matt, 
 xiv. 31. Your doubts come from your little faith : your doubts pre- 
 vent the increase of faith. You can easily believe the Lord is dis- 
 pleased at your sins. What is sin but disobeying his commands? 
 But did you never consider it as a sin, a gi'eat sin, not to believe 
 when he commands ? Not to be obedient to his word, when he re- 
 quires you to be strong in faith, " strong in the grace which is in 
 Christ Jesus ?"....2 Tim. ii. 1. '* Strong in the Lord, and in the power 
 of his might r"....Eph. vi. 10. O, you do not enough attend to this I 
 But you say, " I am so weak in myself." Who is not? He who 
 thinks he is not, is the weakest of all in self-knowledge. The great, 
 the strong, the inspired Paul, gives this challenge, " Who is weak, 
 and I am not weak :".... 2 Cor. xi. 29. You arc, in yourself, upon 
 a level with patriarchs, prophets, apostles and all saints ; and they 
 were all alike upon a level with you, in point of self-weakness. Here 
 is a command for you. Let the weak say I am strong, Lo, I 
 tell you of a great saint, a strong believer, who found himself so 
 >veak, that he took the prophet's advice, and takes up these very 
 words. Would you wish to follow the example of a better saint than 
 St. Paul ? He says, " When I am weak then am I strong."....2 Cor. 
 xii. 10. This is a heavenly art : it is to be learned every day. Put 
 it in practice this night ; thy Lord's glory is concerned in it : thy 
 comfort springs from it. Say, am I weak to strive against sin, to 
 resist satan, to overcome the world, to deny myself, to follow Christ, 
 to pray unto him, believe and hope in him, cleave to him, ajid love 
 him ? &c. What then ? I doubt be will cast me off and suffer me to 
 perish. Would you serve a weak member of your body or treat a 
 weak child of your loins so ? Would you not rather strive to strength- 
 en it? So does your Lord. He says, be strong in the grace which is 
 in me: my strength is yours: my life is yours: all I am and have 
 as God, man and Mediator, is yours : go out of weak self: live by 
 faith on me. Remember, even the renowned heroes of faith, they 
 were not only weak, but wkakness itself : *' Yet out of weakness 
 they were made strong.".... Ileb. xi. 34. O consider, you are engag- 
 ed in a good cause, well provided with the best armour, and as- 
 s\u-cd of perfect victory, by Jesus, the captain of your salvation.... 
 Htb. ii. 10. 
 
 Tho* weak as helpless infancy, Lord, make us on thy strength rely, 
 
 We daily feel we are. And face each daring foe : 
 
 Yet in the Lord our strength doth lie, While looking unto thee as nigh, 
 We are his past'ral ca;e. We unto conqu'ring go. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 17. 263 
 
 Behold, this day, I am going the way of all the earth.... 
 Josh, xxiii. 14. 
 
 Though fully assured of his near dissolution, yet with what 
 calm composure does Joshua utter these words ? Though you are a 
 sinner and must fall under the sentence of death for sin, yet you 
 need not he under hondat^e all your life time through fear of death. 
 Why should you? Has not the sinner's friend gained a complete and 
 everlasting victory over death, the sinner's enemy ? Consider, 1st. 
 What Christ hath done for us sinners ; for sinners we are and shall 
 be, though redeemed by the blood and sanctified by the Spirit of 
 Christ, when the messenger of death kills our body and calls our 
 souls to glory. Honor thy Lord's work by the faith of thy heart ; 
 so fear and terror shall flee from thy soul. 1st. Uy his death he has 
 appeased divine justice. As Jonah his type being cast into the sea, 
 quelled the storm, so Christ being cast into the furnace of divine 
 wrath, quenched the flames. God is just, while he justifies the un- 
 godly sinners Avho believe in Jesus. ...Rom. iii. 26. 2d. He has 
 silenced all the accusations of the law: he hath redeemed us from 
 the curse of the law, being made a curse for us... .Gal. iii. 13. 3d. 
 Upon this follows the removal of guilt: " He took away our sins by 
 the sacrifice of himself.".. ..Heb. ix. 26. " We have redemption 
 through his blood even the forgivencssof our sins."... .Eph. i. 7. 4th. 
 "He hath wrought out and brought in an everlasting righteousness 
 for us. We are made the righteousness of God in him. "....2 Cor. 
 v. 21. 5th. "He hath conquered satan : by his death he hath de- 
 stroyed him who had tlie power of death, tiiat is, the devil. "....Heb. 
 ii. 14. 6th. " He hath opened heaven to us. We lost a paradise 
 by sin. We gain heaven by the cross of Christ. It is our purchased 
 possession. "....Eph. i. 14. Lastly, he hath obtained a victory over 
 sin and death, so that we may joyfully cry out, "thanks be to God, 
 which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.''.... 
 1 Cor. XV. 57. Now, if Christ has appeased justice, silenced the law, 
 taken away the guilt of sin, is made righteousness to us, conquere(i 
 satan, opened heaven, overcome death, and obtained victory for us, 
 what have we to fear I W'hy should we not triumph in the views of 
 death? We cannot without, 2d. The work of the Spirit in us. 
 But if he has made the work of Christ glorious in our eyes : if he 
 has given us to see our need of it ; to believe in and rely upon Christ's 
 life and death as our title to heaven and glory ; by the faith of this 
 he hath sanctified our souls, as vessels of honor, to the glory of 
 Christ. It is our privilege to rejoice in him ; to look uf>on his victo- 
 ries as our own ; to triumph over every enemy, and death as the last 
 enemy : for though he is an enemy to the flesh, he is the best friend 
 to the soul. 
 
264 SEPTEMBER 18. 
 
 JVe icalk by faith and not by sight — 2Cor. v. 7. 
 
 Thus we quit sense for faith: so we overcome the lust of the 
 eyes. To gratify this is contrary to the walk of faith. Then, is it 
 any marvel that we lose the peace, comfort and joy of faith ? But 
 this is not what is here meant by sight, as opposed to faith. Here 
 is an infallible truth ; though a christian, by the eye of sense, can 
 neither see God, Christ, the things of the heavenly world, &c. yet 
 he walks in the firm belief of what the word of God tells him of 
 them : and hence, they have the supreme affection of his soul, from 
 day to day. Faith supplies the sight of them. They are as real to 
 the mind as though seen by the bodily eye. Thus, a lively hope of 
 enjoying them is kept up in the heart : " We are always confident," 
 we are as sure of the existence of spiritual, heavenly and invisible 
 objects, as we are of our own being. O ye sons of carnal sight and 
 sense ! ye deride us : we pity you : ye look only at temporal shadows, 
 we at eternal substance : " The things which are not seen are eter- 
 nal. "....2 Cor. iv. 18. See the preciousness of faith. For, 1st. 
 Though we do not now nor ever have seen Christ, yet we love him ; 
 believing in him, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.... 
 1 Pet. i. 8. For, 2d. We see in ourselves nothing but sin and 
 misery ; but by faith we know Ave are perfectly righteous in Christ, 
 perfectly accepted to God, perfectly justified in his sight, presented 
 Avithout spot of sin. 3d. We see our bodies under the sentence of 
 death, daily dying, hasting to the grave : natural sight can look no 
 farther. There we see an end of our existence ; the body turns to 
 dust : but by faith we look through death and the grave, we see, and 
 say, *' We know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were 
 dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens. "....2 Cor. v. 1. 4th. Though we do not see 
 how, nor can explain the manner of the Spirit's work upon our souls, 
 no more than we can tell from whence the wind cometh, or whither 
 it goelh : yet by sweet experience we can say, " He that hath wrought 
 us for this self-same thing, is theSpirit of God."....2 Cor. v. 5. For 
 we find ourselves formed to live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved us and gave himself for us. ...Gal. ii. 20. Hence we are dead 
 to the pleasures of sense and the joys of carnal mirth ; for, we see 
 Jesus at the right hand of God, where is fulness of joy, and plea- 
 sures for evermore. ...Psalm xvi. 1 1. 
 
 Blest be our Lord who gave us faith, Keep up this quick and piercing sight. 
 Things out of sight to see, Dear Lord, of things above: 
 
 To live and walk by what he saith, That we may walk with thee in light. 
 This shall our glory be. Rejoicing in thy love. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 19. 265 
 
 With cloitds he covereth the light, and coimnandeth it not to 
 shine, by the claud that cometh betzvixt....Job xxxvi. 32. 
 
 The sun, from its first formation by its almighty creator, shines 
 at all times alike: there never was, is, nor can be any addition to, 
 or dimunition from its light and heat. But we perceive a sensible 
 difference : even the intervention of a cloud coming between us and 
 the sun, hides and obscures the glorious rays of light from us. There 
 are fixed laws in creation. All nature acts under the direction of 
 those laws, prescribed by our all-wise Lord. As in nature, so in 
 grace; as by the natural sun, so it is by the sun of righteousness, it 
 shines with equal degree of resplendent glory, of light, love and 
 grace at all times. But, we are not always alike sensible of it. Why 
 not ? As clouds and vapours arise from the earth and interrupt the 
 light of the natural sun, by coming between that and us ; just so 
 the clouds of sin, the vapours of corruption, the thick fog of unbelief, 
 which arise from our earthly, carnal nature, come between us and 
 our glorious sun of righteousness; so its light is obscured, its heat 
 interposed, and its comforts prevented : then our poor hearts are 
 distressed and our spirits dejected : the Lord hides his face and we 
 are troubled. Isaiah gives a very striking account of this ; " The stars 
 of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light : 
 the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall 
 not cause her light to shine. "....Isa. xiii. 10. Hast thou not known 
 somewhat of such a day of darkness and distress ? My soul has 
 mourned on the account of it : but methinks I have found it sweet in 
 experience, when satan, or an unkind enemy hath tried and strove to 
 False a dust, and bring a cloud over one's mind in vain. It is true, 
 they have disturbed and perplexed one : but they could bring nothing 
 between one's soul and Jesus, our glorious sun of righteousness : 
 they have agitated the air, they have tried their efforts upon nature, 
 but could raise no cloud of sin, no vapour of corruption. Jesus 
 shone without a cloud. No intervening obscurity darkened one's 
 views. Then love reflected its strong and powerful rays. Then it 
 was sweet. Well, a few more cloudy and sun-shiny days, and we 
 shall be at home : but we have always this precious promise to sup- 
 port us, " Unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteous- 
 ness arise with healing in his wings.".. ..Mai. iv. 2. 
 
 Without thy light and love, Let no preventing cloud, 
 
 Dear Lord, what is this life ? Obscure thy glorious face, 
 
 Thy precious beams dart from above, Leave not my soul in darkness bow 'd, 
 
 Or all is pain and strife. Thou sun of rigUteousnesv M. 
 
 Vol. IL K k 
 
266 SEPTEMBER 20. 
 
 Give us this day our dailij bread.... Matt. vi. 11. 
 
 Happiness, that inestimable jewel, springs only from content. 
 Christian content is founded in humility. The humble christian 
 lives Upon the fulness of God : thence he seeks all his supplies. 
 Our Lord hot only teaches his disciples the words of prayer, which 
 any body may use, but also gives the spirit of prayer, peculiar to 
 themselves only. This consists, 1st. In knowing our wants. 2d. 
 In seeking a supply of them from the Lord. Give us, 3d. this 
 DAY, (just from hand to mouth), daily bread, all the blessings of 
 providence and grace, needful for us as men and christians. 1st. 
 Do we know our wants ? The sight and sense of this will make and 
 keep VIS very low and humble in our own eyes, for we shall go out of 
 mu-selves and live out of ourselves. Do we want daily bread to sup- 
 port our bodies? Have we no spring of life in ourselves but what 
 must be fed and nourished from the food we receive from day to day? 
 J\ist so it is with our souls. Christ saith, " I am the bread of life." 
 ....Jolm vi. 48. We have no inherent stock of spiritual food in our- 
 selves ; the man who thinks so, is as foolish as he Avould be who 
 should say he has a supply within himself for natural food, he needs 
 not pray for it. 2d. Do we seek supply from our Lord? He says, 
 " Blessed are they which do hunger.. ..Matt. v. 6. Their blessedness 
 consists m coming empty to him to be filled : give us. Dear Lord, 
 I am just the same hopeless, helpless, miserable siimer in myself, 
 as I was when I first heard of thee and came imto thee. 3d. Givk 
 me this day my daily bread : thy flesh to eat and thy blood to drink. 
 Thy flesh is meat indeed : thy blood is drink indeed.... John vi. 55. 
 Lord, thou hast said, " he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." 
 ....John vi. 57. O, that in feeding on thee by faith, I may know 
 that I have ettrnal life and that thou wilt raise me up at the last day. 
 This feeding is vastly preferable to disputing. True, we are ex- 
 horted to contend earnestly for the faith ; but then it should be with 
 a desire that our own souls and the souls of others be edified, fed and 
 nourished by the faith of Jesus; else it is but vain jangling. Who 
 would not contend for his natural food? Hom' jealous, how watchful 
 should we be against every enemy who would prevent our comforta- 
 ble feeding upon Christ, the bread of life ? The more we feed upon 
 this bread, the less appetite we have to the pleasures of this world 
 and the vanities of sense. Our spiritual food transforms us into the 
 image of our Lord, and causes us to aspire after him and long to be 
 V ith him. Precious promise ! "Jesus shall feed his flock like a shep- 
 herd.".... Isa. xl. 1 1. 
 
 Jesii, who ait the bread of life, And grant us to grow strong in thee, 
 
 O feed our souls this da/, To run the heav'nly way. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 21. 267 
 
 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseih us from all 
 sin. ...\ John i. 7. 
 
 Most precious truth for guilty sinners I Lord help us most 
 deeply to consider what is implied in these words. 1st. See the ex- 
 ceeding sinfulness of sin. It has brought these dreadful evils upon 
 us: 1st. Loss of God's image. 2d. Obnoxiousness to his wrath. 
 5d. Rejection from his presence. For we arc by sin totally unclean. 
 The pollution of sin has brought the curse of God's law upon us, 
 armed his justice, shut his kingdom against us, and opened the gates 
 of hell to us. The bitter cries and exquisite torments of the damned 
 in hell will eternally proclaim the malignancy of sin. The everlast- 
 ing songs of the saints in glory will for ever proclaim the praises of 
 the Lamb, who washed them from their sins in his own blood. 2d. 
 This proves the curse and defilement of sin. The blood of Jesus 
 Christ and that alone cleanseth from all its deepest stains. O the 
 infinite love of the Son of God, to shed his blood for guilty sinners! 
 O the infinite virtue of his precious blood to cleanse us from all sin ! 
 Remember, God's justice would have been eternally glorified and 
 thy soul eternally suffering his wrath due to thy sins, if the blood 
 of his Son had not cleansed thee from all sin. Reflect on this, and 
 say, canst thou think light of sin or count the blood of Jesus of 
 little value ? O, see sin's crimson dye in the purple gore of the Son 
 of God, which was shed to atone for it and cleanse from it. od. 
 " Cleanseth us." Not only hath cleansed and shall cleanse, but it 
 continually doth so : it removes all the filth of sin from before God 
 And takes all the guilt of sin out of our consciences ; so that we are 
 perfectly clean and without spot of sin in God's sight, and perfectly 
 freed from all condemnation for sin in our consciences. 4th. "The 
 blood of Jesus Christ." This means the last act of the tragedy of 
 the life of our anointed Saviour : his blood being the ransom of our 
 souls, the price of our redemption, and the expiation of our sins. 
 5th. " His Son:" the Son of God : very God of very God. Here 
 let faith fix and conscience be satisfied: not only the blood of the 
 Son of the Virgin, but it is the blood of the Son of God. Neither 
 the greatness nor the number of sins can remain in their guilt, nor 
 expose any sinner to Avrath who believes in the Sbn of God; no 
 guilt so great but it can cleanse ; no stain so deep but it can purge. 
 Unbelief shuts this blood out of the conscience. By faith we receive 
 its cleansing virtue and peaceful effects on our souls. 
 
 Thy blood alone, Jehovah Man, Come, let us sing, adore and praise. 
 
 Doth cleanse our souls from guilt of sin. Ye sinners who are foul as. me, 
 This precious truth we'd ever scan, The dying love, the precious grace. 
 For peace and love and joy within. Of Jesu's suff'rings on the tree, M. 
 
268 SEPTEMBER 22, 
 
 If yc do these things, ye shall nevei^fall...'2 Pet. i. 10. 
 
 What things? Add to your faith every christian grace and 
 good work. If ye live in the exercise of grace and the discharge of 
 duty, ye shall never fall. But it is here plainly implied, if ye do not 
 these things ye certainly -will fall. How fall ? Into all manner of 
 sin ; yea, and into hell too, if the Lord Christ keep you not. But 
 he most assuredly will keep all his sheep from thus falling; for he 
 has said, they shall never perish ; I give unto them eternal life. 
 But what evidence can any one have that he is Christ's sheep, if he 
 do not hear his voice and obey his word ! My dear fellow sinner, 
 deceive not thy OAvn soul : beware of corrupt notions and unscriptu- 
 ral ideas: it is most true, salvation is sure ; every one who believes 
 in Christ shall most assuredly be saved ; but, there is as sui-ely such 
 a thing as living and walking close with Christ, cleaving to him with 
 purpose of heart, cheerfully obeying him in love, and studying to 
 glorify him in righteousness and true holiness : and there is such a 
 thing also as falling away from this lively exercise of grace, sted- 
 fastness in the faith of Christ, and warm love to Christ. Hence, 
 great dishonor is brought upon the Lord, great grief to bis dear 
 disciples, and great darkness and distress upon the souls of such 
 professors. Is it not to be dreaded to have Christ withdraw him- 
 self? To have guilt, and fear and terror let loose upon thy con- 
 science, v.hile the enenny is saying, where is now thy God, thy Sa- 
 viour, thy salvation ? Peter thus fell: David thus fell : saints in all 
 ages have thus fell. They have told us, and the sinner who writes 
 these words, can tell thee somewhat of the gall and wormwood of 
 this falling. Are you ready to say, this is very legal and very ter- 
 rifying? Not legal; for this text is an evangelical exhortation: 
 much of the preciousness of gospel salvation lies in it : it is a means 
 to keep from falling: it is a spur to final perseverance. As to ter- 
 ror ; take warning by the assertion and thou hast nothing to dread 
 from the consequence. Absolute declarations of salvation are to 
 strengthen the faith and comfort the hearts of God's people. Pre- 
 cious promises support them. Suitable exhortations quicken their 
 diligence. Assertions of their danger of falling, are to convince 
 them of their weakness, excite their cry unto the Lord, and cause 
 them to walk close with him, " who is able to keep them from fall- 
 ing, and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory, 
 ■with exceeding joy."....Judc, 24. 
 
 In Christ I stand, by faith I work, Freth tinction from thyself, dear Lord, 
 
 From Christ 1 ne'er can fall : Pour out upon my heart : 
 
 But if I'm careless in my walk, M^ke me take heed unto thy word, 
 
 I'm sure to get in thrall. l^st conscience feels the smart. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 23. 269 
 
 Jesus said, icJiat manner of comimmications are these 
 that ye have one to another ^ as ye zcalk and are sad^ 
 Luke xxiv. 17. 
 Time is tl^.e best physic for most diseases, whether of body or 
 mind. A present ho\ir may cause sadness, the next may bring joy. 
 This is a living comfott in saddest seasons, Christ knows both our 
 Borrows, and the ca;use of them: he is always near to us, thoug;h 
 we see him nrtt : his sympathizing^ spirit manifests itself in this 
 question. Observe, 1st, Here were two disciples communing; to- 
 gether and rtniftonino; with one another : this is right. It is pleas- 
 ing to our Lord, to see his dear members converse with and strive 
 to edify each other in che faith of him, and that they bear each others 
 burdens. For, 2d. Jesus joined company with them. Disciple, 
 how often have you found it so ? Christ delights in the fellowship of 
 his saints : "How can one be warm alone i'"....Ecclcs. iv. 11. 3d. 
 Christ enquires of their conversation and the cause of their sadness. 
 Disciples of Christ have their sad seasons: it is good that they 
 should converse freely with one another about them. But whence 
 do they spring ? Chiefly ficm unbelief. These poor souls were sad. 
 Why? They did not believe their Lord was risen. But, ah 1 there 
 \vas another reason for sadness ; they had basely forsaken and cow- 
 ardly deserted him : this also arose from the same cause, unbelief. 
 Well, notwithstanding all tlds, O, the free grace of Christ! 4th. 
 He follows them, though they forsook him : he owns them, though 
 they denied him ; he cares for them, though they shewed no care for 
 him ; he comes to comfort them, though they had grieved him. 
 Says the prince of peace, " Why are ye sad ?" Then they opened 
 their minds to him ; they told him of the ray of hope and the gleam 
 of confidence which they possessed : we trusted, See. But delays 
 begot doubt. This is the third day, &c....Luke xxiv. 21. What was 
 the consequence. 1st. Christ chides them for their unbelief? 2d. 
 Expounds the scriptures to them. 3d. Causes their hearts to burn 
 within them. O christians, though you are perplexed in your mind, 
 vralk and are sad, yet forsake not the assembling of yourselves to- 
 gether ; expect and pray for your Lord's presence: this, like the 
 rising sun, will scatter the clouds of doubt, fear and sadness, which 
 hang over your minds. Remember, with the confidence of faith and 
 the joy of hope, your Lord's precious promise, " Where two or 
 three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
 them. "....Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
 O Jesu, in my saddest hours, ■ When lost to God and dead in $in, 
 Help me to look to thee ; " Thy lore sought after me; 
 
 And call up ail my thinking pow'rs, Tho' sav'd, I've flesh and sin within. 
 Of what thou art to me. My comforti' all in thee. M. 
 
270 SEPTEMBER 24. 
 
 There icas given to me a thorn in thejiesh, the messenger 
 of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above 
 measure. ...'2 Cor. xii. 7; 
 
 I dearly love Paul's experience ; for there is so much of the 
 artless simplicity of the poor humble sinner, such a dread of self- 
 gloryins^, while it ever exalts the rich grace of the dear Saviour. 
 Let us make a few remarks on it, and pray our dear Lord to bless 
 them. 1st. Here is a painful experience, a thorn in his flesh. 
 What vv^as that ? Some say the cholic, others the ear-ach, others 
 the head-ach, C-cc. If it was a bodily pain, we may as well guesa 
 the gout in his groat toe. Rut would Paul have made such ado, to 
 have a bodily pain removed? Would a bodily pain prevent soul ex- 
 alting? Surely it r/as something more: it was the heart-ach : he 
 plainly tells us, it was "the messenger of satan to buffet him." 
 "His very soul vvc'ts liarrassed and sore distressed by some violent temp- 
 tation, injection, or Ruggestion from the devil ; either concerning 
 his own state, or the truth as it is in Jesus. This was teazing, pain- 
 ful, and tormenting to him, as a thorn in the flesh: this brought him 
 to a proper feeling of himself, after his abundant revelations. He 
 found that he was the subject of corruptions like another sinner: 
 he had the irksome feelings of the "flesh, in which, he says, dwelli 
 no good thing.".... Rom. vii. 18. He could not say as his Lord, 
 " satan cometh and hath nothing in me.".. ..John xiv. 30. For he 
 found in Paul an evil and corrupt nature to work upon ; therefore 
 he biiffetted him from day to day. If you experience somewhat of 
 this, be not dejected ; call not your state in question ; resist satan, 
 and cry to your Lord. For know, with Paul, 2d. " It was given to 
 me." The Lord for wise and good ends, in love to our souls, per- 
 mits these buffettings. Satan thinks to destroy us, but the Lord here- 
 by profits us ; he suffers his dearest children, and holiest saints to 
 be vexed by satan and all kinds of temptations. To what end ? 3d. 
 " Lest I should be exalted above measure." Could not so holy a 
 saint as Paul be favored with rich experience of heavenly visions, 
 without danger of being puffed up with pride by them ? See hence, 
 O believer, your danger : these pungent feelings bring down from 
 our altitudes to humility. Then, 4th. Prize the throne of grace ; 
 flee to your precious Lord as Paul did ; lay all you distress before 
 him. 5th. Remember the precious answer he got from Christ, " My 
 grace is suflicient for thee." As though he had said, you are not to 
 live upon your self-exalting frames and feelings ; but as a poor sin- 
 ner, upon the all-suflicient grace of me, your precious Saviour. 
 Thus self Avas laid low and the Lord alone exalted in that day.... 
 Isa. ii. 11. 
 
SEPTEMBER 25. . nn 
 
 For zvheii I am zveak, then am I strong.... 2 Cor. xli. 10. 
 
 We have heard of Paul's revelations, exaltint^^s, buircttings, and 
 his praying : now of his humbling. He is brought down to his 
 right place, low in himself; and to his right feelings, weak in him- 
 self. Hence we see the true nature and blessed end of christian ex- 
 perience: it keeps tlie soul from being puft up with pride, lest it fall 
 into the condemnation of the devil ; it sinks it low in humility, under 
 a sense of weakness, and it leads it out of itself to look for all its 
 strength in Christ. Here the strength of faith is opposed to the 
 weakness of sense. When I am sensibly weak, then am I believ- 
 ingly strong: this, though a difficult lesson, yet is a precious one. 
 1st. Do we see ourselves weak? Christ is held forth to us as our 
 strength, and he calls upon us to be strong in him : " Trust in the 
 Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.".... 
 Isa. xxvi. 4. But surely, folly is bound up in the heart of the weak; 
 for, instead of obeying and trusting in him, how many are saying, 
 I am the weakest of the weak ; I have no might, n© power ? You are 
 the very person here addressed. You can get no strength but from 
 the Lord. By trusting in the Lord, you will say, though weak, I 
 am strong: I have everlasting strength. Again, 2d. To encourage 
 to this, the Lord commands, " let the weak say I am strong.".... 
 Joel iii. 10. Let them believe it in their hearts and confess it with 
 their lips. What ! if they find no strength in themselves? Yes, it 
 is a command to the weak ; yea, to the weakest of the weak. Then 
 this exactly suits you and me. Here again, 3d. " Hast thou not 
 known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, 
 giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he en- 
 creaseth strength. "....Isa. xl. 29. Here we arc rebuked and reprov- 
 ed. Faint, and have no might : this is our state. Have you never 
 heard nor known how the Lord dealeth with such? O look up to 
 him. Though not sufficient of yourself to do any thing as of your- 
 self, know your sufficiency is of the Lord: though we can do nothing 
 of ourselves, yet we can do all things through Christ, who strength- 
 cneth us.. ..Phil. iv. 13. How do we get strength from Christ? By 
 believing his promises, going to him in the faith of them, pleading 
 them before him, and praying him to fulfil them in us : thus we 
 put our cause upon the strength of Christ's truth : he is faithful ; he 
 cannot deny us ; he will say, " According to your faith, be it unto 
 you."....Matt. ix. 29. 
 
 When frames are warm, and comforts Then Jesus sends somehunnblingstroke 
 Othen we're mighty great ! [strong. In love, to mar our pride. 
 
 Self is the hero of our sonj, That we may glory of his work, 
 
 Our weakness we forget. And trust in nought beside. M. 
 
272 SEPTEMBER 26. 
 
 Th^^n mere the disciples glad ivheii they saw the Lord.... 
 Johfi XX. 20. 
 
 " Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the 
 eyes to behold the sun."....Eccles. xi. 7. But , O how much more 
 sweet and pleasant lo see the light and behold the glory of the sun 
 OF RiGiiTEcusNEss ! This inspires the heart with gladness. These 
 disciples had lost their dear Lord and mourned in darkness for his 
 absence: tongue cannot tell their inexpressible joy at seeing him 
 again : their sight was by the eye of sense, ours is by the eye of 
 fait"h ; yet our sight is not less real than theirs, and it brings the 
 same gladness to our hearts also; therefore it is highly prized hj 
 us, for we can neither live comfortably, walk holily, nor die hap- 
 pily, without seeing the Lord Christ. For, 1st. A sight of Christ 
 by faith, brings peace to the conscience. There is ever a war with- 
 in, between the flesh and the Spirit, grace and nature, the old man 
 and the new. The motions of sin in our members are ever warring 
 against the law of holiness m our minds. Wicked nature is like the 
 troubled sea, which cannot rest ; it is continually casting up mire 
 and dirt: but the v/Lnds and seas of corrupt nature obey Christ ; he 
 says, peace, be still, and there is a great calm in the soul; for 
 Christ is our peace, he hath made our peace with God by his blood, 
 he makes and keeps peace in our souls by his presence: our stub- 
 born lusts will fight and reign, if Christ be absent from our hearts. 
 Therefore we cannot but be glad when we sec the Lord. 2d. The 
 sight of Christ quells our doubts, and dispels our fears. Our poor 
 hearts, seeing sin and all manner of evil dwelling in us, are ready to 
 fear and doubt wht>ther we are the children of God, or hot. But, 
 O when we see Christ by faith, our consciences are satisfied: our 
 muuls are divinely assured, that Christ hath redeemed us to God bf 
 his blood : for we cry out, this is our beloved and our friend, in 
 whom we have redeniption, even the forgiveness of our sins. We 
 believe and are sure he is the Christ of God, the Saviour of sinners. 
 3d. The sight of Christ gives victory over death, opens the king- 
 dom of heaven to our view, and gives us to sec a smiling God and 
 Father, ready to receive and embrace us. O most joyful sight I If 
 so, O christian, beware, l)eware of gratifying your sight with any 
 vain, sinful and carnal jjleiisures. These v.'ill draw away your sight 
 and take off the attention of your minds from looking unto Jesus, 
 and prevent your gladness of heart, and joy of soul in and frora 
 him ; " Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. "....Psalm 
 cxix. 37. 
 
 A siffHt of thee, my Saviour dfar, Repeat thy visits o'er and o'er. 
 
 Makes glad my mournliil licart, While in this vale I dwell, 
 
 Expels my douhts, hrinjjs heaven near, That 1 may view thee ev'ry hour. 
 And sensual joys depart. Who savd my soul from hell. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 27. 273 
 
 I know that in me, (that is in my flesh) dicelleth no good 
 thi?ig....Ro7n. vii. 18. 
 
 This is the knowledge -which pufieth not up ; but like love it 
 edifieth the soul in deep humility, -while it excites overflowing grati- 
 tude in the heart to Christ for his righteousness to justify such vile 
 sinners: it is the knowledge of regenerate souls. I iixow ; not 
 only doctrinally, in notion and theory, but it is a confinned truth, 
 by heart-felt experience ; I know it from day to day ; I have proved 
 it again and again; I am as fully assured of it as Lam of my own 
 existence, "that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." Paul's judg- 
 ment of himself was confirmed by experience. But, was not Paul a 
 most eminent apostle and holy saint ? Yes : still he confesses pub- 
 licly before God, angels and men, that he was the subject of a nature 
 which is earthly, sensual and devilish. If no good thing dwelt in 
 his flesh, is it not implied that every evil dwelt there? Doubtless, 
 he would be so understood. Were evil thoughts, murders, adulte- 
 ries, blasphemies, 8cc. in the flesh of this holy saint? Yes, his 
 knowledge of the total corruption of his fallen nature agrees with 
 his Lord's doctrine.... Matt. xv. 19. He had been a murderer and 
 blasphemer by practice : then he was in a state of ignorance and 
 unbelief; but now he was regenerated, his state changed, and his 
 practice altered, therefore, surely his flesh could not be so bad. Yes, 
 it was just the same : the flesh, the old man, the corrupt fallen nature 
 is and ever will be the same in the regenerate : " It ever lusts 
 against the Spirit.".. ..Gal. v. 17. Why is this woeful experience of 
 Paul's left upon record? For our profit. 1st. That we might judge 
 and try ours by it. If Ave are taught by the same Spirit, we shall 
 have the same humbling views of our flesh. Our flesh is not worse 
 than Paul's, nor was his one whit better than ours. If Me are left in 
 nature's pride, we shall join the ignorant cry of those who say, " all 
 who are convinced of sin, greatly undervalue themselves." 2d. 
 Not to be cast down with despondency nor give way to despairing 
 thoughts, though we find every evil and nothing but evil in our 
 flesh; for this cures us of all confidence in the flesh; this we are 
 prone to ; but th's opposes the faith of the gospel. 3d. Look out and 
 go entirely out of yourself: look wholly to and trust entirely in the 
 Lord Jesus and his righteousness, that though you have no confi- 
 dence in the flesh you may ever rejoice in him : this is the character 
 and conduct of true believers. ...Phil. iii. 3. 4th. Adore the holy 
 Spirit, who when you had no goodness to deserve it, no meetness to 
 qualify for it, but all in you to oppose it, gave you a new birth into 
 Christ in whom you have every spiritual good. Therefore, walk in 
 the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."... .Gal. v. 1&. 
 Vol. II. L 1 
 
274 SEPTEMBER 28. 
 
 If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the 
 spirit is life because of righteousness. ...Rom. viii. 10. 
 
 Paul was an experimental teacher: he applies himself to the 
 heart; he appeals to the conscience ; he aims to quicken and ani- 
 mate the soul and to draw out the affections to Christ, from what 
 it had inwardly experienced of the grace of Christ. O christians, 
 let this be your study when you meet and talk together : yea, often 
 doas David did; converse freely with your own soul. If Christ 
 BE IN YOU ; that is, dwells in your hean by faith ; if you have an 
 inward approbation of him, delight in him, and love to him in your 
 heart; if you believe in him as the Son of God, anointed by the 
 Holy Ghost to be the only Redeemer, justifier, and Saviour of 
 perishing sinners.. ..what then ? I will tell you, says Paul, what will 
 be the experience of your heart. 1st. "The body is dead because 
 of sin." You will find and groan under the weight of a dead body, 
 when in your most solemn duties ; yea, and in your best frames too, 
 you will find its deadness and feel its pressure : so that, as one says, 
 u christian is often Aveary in, though never weary of serving God. 
 Because of sin the body is dead to all spiritual delights: it has no 
 relish but for carnal joys and earthly pleasures : it is under the sen- 
 tence of the law to death because of sin. No good thing dwells in 
 the flesh : expect none from it : be content to leave it dead to spi- 
 ritual purposes, as you found it : don't gratify but mortify it : be not 
 discouraged under this irksome sense and feeling. Rejoice: it is 
 from' experience, 2d. That, " the Spirit is life because of righteous- 
 ness." Sin, and the loss of righteousness brought death upon body 
 and soul: a sinless man, with perfect righteousness, restores life to 
 the soul. Some talk of their own righteousness and the work of 
 the Spirit upon the soul, and yet deny the obedience and righteous- 
 ness of Christ's life fok us : this is contrary to the faith of the gos- 
 pel. We find our souls alive to God, Ave own it is by the Spirit of 
 God, because of the righteousness of the Son of God: therefore 
 we live by his righteousness, live upon him, and live to him, who 
 wrought it out for us : this is tiie life of the soul, the life of faith. 
 O what a special mercy for the soul to be alive to God ! O what joy, 
 under a sense of all deadness, dejection, short comings, imperfec- 
 tions, 8cc. to have the perfectly glorious righteousness of Christ to 
 plead before God! For though wc arc not righteous in ourselves, 
 yet, '♦ Clirist of God is made unto us righteousness."....! Cor. i. 30. 
 
 What the' we find the body dead, Christ in us lives by precions faith, 
 Under the curse of law : The life of ev'ry grace : 
 
 We're righteous in our living head. We feast with joy on what he saith. 
 From hence we comforts draw. We soon shall see his face. M. 
 
SEPTEMBER 39. srs 
 
 We are perplexed, but not hi despair.... 1 Cor. iv. 8. 
 
 God's dear children have not all the same clear judgment of 
 truth ; they are not all of one mind and the same sentiment in all 
 points : yet they all have one Lord, one faith, and one hope ; and, 
 there is a uniformity in their experience, in regard to the exceeding 
 sinfulness of sin, the depravity of their nature, their perplexities 
 from the world, the flesh, and the devil, their love of the scriptures, 
 and the exceeding preciousness of Christ : this proves that they are 
 taught by one and the same Spirit. We have perplexities of a spi- 
 ritual nature, beside those in common with others, which natural men 
 are utter strangers to : these arc no weak evidences of our spi- 
 ritual birth. To be perplexed M'ith a body of sin an;l death, with a 
 sense of unbelief, with deadncss, formality, wanderings in spiritual 
 duties, with satan's temptations, injections, accusations, corrupt 
 reasonings, and carnal pleadings ; the feeling all these makes it 
 manifest, that the soul is born of God and alive to God ; for when 
 dead in sin we felt nothing of them. How exceeding absurd and 
 foolish then do many act? Because thus perplexed, O they are ready 
 to give up hope, cast away confidence, and deny they are God's 
 children ; but their sense of these things, and groaning under them, 
 are evident tokens of salvation : " Perplexed, but not in despair :" 
 O take heed of giving the least way to despair : of desponding: of 
 letting go your confidence in Christ : of giving up for one moment, 
 the least degree of hope in Christ. For, consider the evil of this. 
 Ist. You hereby slight the everlasting love of God the Father x6 sin- 
 ners. 2d. You dishonor the work and salvation of the Son of God 
 for sinners. 3d. You grieve the holy Spirit, "the comforter of sin- 
 ners. 4th. You disregard the gospel of grace, glad tidings to sin- 
 ners; and set at nought all God's precious promises in Christ unto 
 sinners. 5th. You give the enemy all possible advantage over you. 
 He stands and cries, " There, there, so would I have it." 6th. 
 You give sin all its strength against you. 7th. You perplex, distress, 
 and darken your own soul, whereby you are hindred from running 
 the way of God's commands with love and delight. A thousand 
 evils are connected with indulging despondence : away then with all 
 false humility; it is devilish. Hold fast this faithful saying, for it 
 is worthy of all acceptation, at all times, under all circumstances, 
 " Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.".... 1 Tim. i. 15. 
 Till the devil can blot that truth out of God's word, or make you 
 any thing worse than a sinner ; you, as a quickened sinner have the 
 same reason as Paul, or any other apostle, to say, " I am always 
 coi«riDENT."....2 Cor. v. 6. 
 
276 SEPTEMBER 30. 
 
 I am like a green fr-tree : from me is tJii) fruit found.... 
 Hos. xiv. 8. 
 
 Here is a sweet dialogue, between the Lord and Ephraim, 
 which signifies growing. The Lord had just before said, " I will be 
 as dew unto my people." See the effects of this grace. Ephraim 
 says, " What have I to do any more with idols ?" Now I find my 
 Lord, and my love in my heart, get hence ye cursed idols, my vile 
 lusts ; and that vain idol, the work of my hands, my own righteous- 
 ness. I abhor the former : I trample on the latter : I bemoan my 
 folly in taking up with them so long. The Lord graciously answers, 
 " I have heard him :" his moans and complaints : " and observed 
 him," with complacency and delight returning to me. O ever gra- 
 cious, long-suffering, loving friend of sinners ! " I am like a green 
 fir-tree." Who says this? Commentators say, Christ : but I would 
 rather humbly presume, than boldly assert, that they are the words 
 of the believer ; for thus the dialogue is kept up. Naturalists say, 
 the fir-tree is of itself unfruitful. If so, we may suppose the belie- 
 ver saying to his Lord, I find my soul is alive; I do grow; I am a 
 tree of righteousness of thy planting, that thou mayest be glorified. 
 ....Isa. Ixi. 3. But, " I am like a green fir-tree." I bear leaves; I 
 can bring forth no fruit of myself ; I long to be fruitful to your glory- 
 To which Christ replies, " From ?ie is thy fruit found." O, we can 
 never be too often reminded of this ! For it beats down pride : it 
 keeps us humble before, dependant on, and grateful to our dear 
 Lord. 1st. Christ hath brought forth all rich fruit to us, to com- 
 fort us : adoption to enoble us: righteousness to justify us : blood 
 to cleanse us : holiness to sanctify us : and heaven to glorify us. 2d. 
 All the graces of the Spirit in us: faith to come to and abide in him : 
 love to d(jlight our souls in him : hope to expect all from him. Sec. 
 3d. All our fruits of righteousness are from him. Being married 
 to him we bring forth fruit unto God....Rom. vii. 4. All our fruits 
 of righteousness are by Jesus Christ, to the glory of God.. ..Phil, 
 i. 1 1 . O then it shall be our chief, our constant concern, to keep 
 our faith in lively exercise upon Christ, that we may have a clear 
 sight of our union to him and a happy sense of communion with 
 him. Out of his fulness we receive all supply. Remember this cri- 
 terion of thy Lord's: O that it may quicken our diligence, influence 
 our conduct, and animate our zeal in the ways of holiness: "By 
 
 THKIR FnuiTS YE SHALL KNOW THEM. ".... Matt. vii. 20. 
 
 All my salvation is in Christ; Hence I l)y faith on^hrist will live. 
 From liim are all my fruits : That Christ may live in me : 
 
 All other notions 1 resist : So ev'ry grace shall spring and thrive, 
 This barren nature suits. And I not barren be, M. 
 
OCTOBER 1. 271 
 
 Christ was in all points tempted like as zve are, yet with- 
 out sin....Heh. iv. 15. 
 
 O, SAYS a soul in heaTiness through manifold temptations, 
 surely no one was ever tempted and tried like me ! Paul answers to 
 the contrary : " There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is 
 common to man."....l Cor. x. 13. Is this any relief and support to 
 you? If not, consider the text. 1st. Temptation was common to 
 Christ, as man : he was tempted in all points like as we are. View 
 him beset by satan : see the hellish arts he practised upon him : he 
 tempted him to the lust of the eye, to self-murder, to idolatry, to 
 distrust God, to tempt God, yea, in all points, like as we are. 
 You cannot feel a trial or temptation, but what Christ felt before 
 you. Though he had no sin in his nature for satan to work upon, 
 yet he doubtless felt all the assaults which the power and malice of 
 hell could attack him with, yet M'ithout sin: therefore, temptations 
 are not sins. 2d. Though as God, Christ knew all things intui- 
 tively, yet he could only as man have a feeling, experimental sense 
 of the nature and power of temptations. 3d. This is very comforta- 
 ble to his tried, tempted members; for he is "touched with a 
 feeling of our infirmities." " Being tempted himself, he is able to 
 succour them who are tempted.".. ..Ileb. ii. 18. O think of this un- 
 der all your temptations and trials. What ! did Christ feel all that 
 I feel before me and for me ? Had he the most quick sense and pun- 
 gent feelings of temptation ? And was all to this end, that he might 
 be able to succoiir me? Think, O my soul, thy crowned head in 
 glory feels for all his tempted members on earth. Consider Jesus, 
 once a MAN as thou art, and now, as seeing thy poor, panting heart 
 and labouring breast, bowed down with one temptation and another. 
 Methinks one hears him say, thus it was with me when in the flesh: 
 my heart yearns, my bowels move with tender compassion to that 
 my brother in flesh: I am touched with a tender sympathy for him. 
 Is it so? Then do not keep the devil's secrets. Does he tempt thee 
 from day to day with some vile, filthy, cursed lust? Go and lay all 
 in thine heart open to thy Lord : be neither afraid nor ashamed : 
 Christ knows what sore temptations mean, for he has felt the same: 
 confess the vile, abominable, hellish lusts and corruptions of thy na- 
 ture. Remember, ever remember, Christ's blood is the fountain 
 opened for sin, and uncleanness....Zech. xiii. 1. 
 
 Temptations black beset my soul, My soul, be not dismay'd at this. 
 
 And often make me start : Thy Lord did feel the same : 
 
 How can this be, if grace controul, Satan doth strive to mar thy peace, 
 
 That I should feel such smart ? But Christ has conquer'd him. M. 
 
^78 OCTOBER 2. 
 
 He loist not that the Lord zvas departed from him..., 
 Judg. xvi. 20. 
 
 What do I read? Samson's name enrolled in the list of the 
 ancient heroes of faith ?....Heb. xi. 32. What ! he who loved a harlot 
 and was so blinded by his lust as to bring on himself the most 
 dreadful evils, even unto his death? Yes. Grace reigned then: it 
 reigns still, through the righteousness of Christ unto sinners. Whatl 
 that they should continue in sin, because grace abounds ? God for- 
 forbid ! See the most awful evils it brought upon this man of God : 
 behold in him how sin blinds the eyes, hardens the heart, and stupi- 
 fies the conscience : think of this and tremble at the first approach 
 of sin and lust. Isi. Samson's lust to a vile strumpet had so 
 blinded his reasdn that he put his life in her hands three times; yet 
 he could not see that she had no regard for him, but wanted to de- 
 stroy him. Here is a judgment upon his lust : the Philistines put 
 out his eyes. 2d. As he was fettered by his sin, a slave to his lusts, 
 and did the devil's drudgery; the Philistines fettered him, put him 
 into the prison-house, and made him grind there. 3d. The Lord, 
 who is of purer eyes than to behold sin, added this judgment to the- 
 others, he departed from him: but Samson knew it not. Hence 
 oliserve, 1st. That God doth not wink and connive at sin in his peo- 
 ple ; but he will most assuredly punish them for i^. 2d. That the 
 Lord may depart from a soul and he not be immediately sensible of 
 it: but when, like Samson, he awakes out of his sleep, and says, 
 "I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself," O alas! 
 he finds his spiritual power and strength gone : no sweet communion 
 with his dear Lord as heretofore : no precious lifts from his Spirit: 
 no inward testimonies of his love and gentle whispers of peace to his 
 soul. He prays, but it is with the lips only ; the power of prayer is 
 departe?! from the heart : he goes from ordinance to ordinance, but 
 he finds not his Lord in them; all is dry formality, dreary and un- 
 comfortal)Ie. But, O joyful! Samson's locks began to grow again : 
 the Spirit of the Lord returned to him once more : he prays, " O 
 Lord God, remember me and strengthen me, that I may be avenged 
 on the Philislines for my two eyes." " Lord remember me," was 
 the tliief 's prayer on the cross. Never forget the gracious answer. 
 If you can but find a heart to pray to Jesus to be revenged upon your 
 cursed lusts, he saith, " Return ye backsliding children, and I will 
 heal your backslidings."....Jer. iii. 22. 
 
 The Lord still waits to shew his grace, 'Tis this revives the dying spark 
 And save returning souls from hell: Of hope, in a poor siHner's breast, 
 
 Tho* we oflend liim to his face, Turns him from sin's most cursed work 
 
 God's love in Christ's immutable. To Jesus, for his promis'd rest. M. 
 
OCTOBER 3. 279 
 
 Behold I have erred exceedingly.... \ Sam. xxvi. 21. 
 
 I HAVE selected this text for a peculiar purpose.... At the close 
 of the meditation shall assign the reason. In this chapter \ve have 
 an account of the heroic act of David's f^ilh in the l-ord, his invin- 
 cible courage, and his amazing tenderness towards Saul his enraged 
 enemy, by which he melted his heart and overcame his cruel wruth. 
 Let us view his conduct, and pray for grace to improve from it. 1st. 
 View his faith. Here was Saul, with three thousand chosen men, 
 in pursuit of David, thirsting for his blood : they were at a very 
 small distance from him. Behold, David proposes to go to Saul's 
 camp in the dead of the night, and asks, " Who will go down with 
 me ?" Does not this seem to the eye of carnal reason to be a most 
 rash and dangerous attempt? Though it were at midnight, though 
 they might be fallen into a dead sleep, yet out of such a number of 
 men, one or more might awake and seize on David. Surely, it; was 
 going into the very jaws of death ; but David's f:iith surmounted his 
 fears: his trust in his God got the better of his cainal suggestions. 
 O precious gift of precious faith ! Precious Lord, increase it in our 
 souls. Abishai consents to go with him ; they pass the king's life- 
 guards ; come into Saul's camp : for behold, they were all like dead 
 men. David and Abishai converse together : not a man hears or 
 stirs. Why was this? How can we account for it ? Why? "because 
 a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them." O, my soul, 
 learn courage frdm hence. When Giant Despair attempted to pur- 
 sue the pilgrims, he was seized with his fits. All thy enemies are 
 under thy Lord's power; he can cast all into a deep sltep or into the 
 long sleep of death ; and he will, sooner than thou shall perish by 
 them. Up faith. ...down sense. ...away with all carnal reasonings : 
 
 March on, nor fear to win the day, 
 
 Tho' death and hell obstruct the way. 
 Now, 2d. See how David's faith wrought by his works. When 
 they got safe into the camp, Saul lay sleeping, and his spear stuck 
 into the ground at his head : now for a strong temptation. Abishai 
 said to David, " God hath delivered thine enemy into thy hand this 
 day ; let me smite him, I pray thee, with this spear to the earth at 
 once, I will not smite him a second time." See this specious rea- 
 soning. 1st. He begins with God, who had delivered Saul into Da- 
 vid's hands. 2d. Here was a fair opportunity to revenge himself of 
 his cruel enemy and put an end to his troubles. And, od. He 
 promises to do it effectually, at a stroke. Now, who but a man 
 after God's own heart could have withstood this ? But David had a. 
 bettej way to kill his rage and save his life. Here see an heroic act 
 
 of 
 
280 OCTOBER 3. 
 
 of faith working by love and producing an unshaken obedience to 
 God : he durst not stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed^ 
 See how conspicuous the grace of God shines in this Old-Testament 
 saint. O blush ye, who make David's faith as nothing compared 
 to the faith of a christian ! od. See the eflects of David's conduct : 
 he carried away Saul's spear and cruse from under his head, and up- 
 braids the captain of his host for not watching over his royal mas- 
 ter. Saul hears of the affair, and cries out, " Is this thy voice, my 
 -son David?" Struck with David's fine reasoning; melted down at 
 his noble, generous conduct ; and doubtless recollecting this was 
 the second time his life was in David's hands, when he cuts off the 
 skirts of his robe in the cave.... 1 Sam. xxiv. 4....Saul replies, " Be- 
 hold, I have played the fool, and erred exceedingly." 
 
 O see hence, that faith works by love and patience : this will 
 overcome, Avhen wrath and resentment only add fuel to an enemy's 
 rage. May we not all take up Saul's confession and say, in many 
 instances, " I have erred exceedingly ?" It shall begin at my door. 
 I will confess, (the Lord of love and patience pardon me) I have erred 
 exceedingly, in contending for the truth with too much of the lire 
 of nature's passions instead of that holy zeal which is accompanied 
 with love. Those I have offended, I pray them to forgive, and hum- 
 bly intreat their prayers for me a poor sinner. O for a warm zeal 
 tempered with the fire of love ! This is the likeliest means to cause 
 " them who err in spirit, to come to understanding, and they who 
 murmur, to learn doctrine. "....Isa. xxix. 24. But this is not the pe- 
 culiar reason of my choice of this text. But the printer of the for- 
 mer edition confessed he had erred, in printing the pages wrong, 
 which obliged me to write a meditation on two pages. The next 
 page should have been 279, for which the reader's excuse is humbly 
 entreated. 
 
 In that xxixth of Isaiah, verse 19, it is said, " The meek shall 
 increase their joy in the Lord." O my soul ! " The joy of the I^ord 
 is thy strength.".... Nehem. viii. 10. Beware then of every work 
 which may interrupt thy holy, humble, spiritual joy in the God of 
 thy salvation. To joy in thy Lord always, is comnianded....Phil. 
 iv. 4. Ever remember, it is connected with meekness ; and the 
 meek increase their joy. Seest thou those who err in spirit and 
 murmur against the doctrines of grace ? Take Paul's advice, " In 
 meekness instructing those," Sec... .2 Tim. ii. 25. 
 
 Lord save me from my daily faults, Let meekness in my soul prevail, 
 
 I'm daily prone to err : And nature's fire subdu« : 
 
 Keep me from anger's fierce assaults, Tho' in myself I'm weak and frail, 
 
 By holy, loving fear. Thro' Christ I all can do. M. 
 
OCTOBER 4. 281 
 
 Is not my tvord like as afire? saith the Lord...Jer, 
 xxiii. 29. 
 
 How comforting this reflection ? "We, who were sometimei 
 afar off, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ."... . Eph. ii. 13. 
 How happy is the soul when it finds nearness of access to God and 
 enjoys sweet converse with him? Then, with Jeremiah it says, " let 
 me talk with thee, O Lord."....Jer. xii. 1. Then the Lord conde- 
 scends to hear and reply. As here, the Lord appeals to the soul's 
 experience ; and asks, what effect has my word had on thine heart: 
 Is it not like fire? Let us consider this, that the word of the Lord 
 may be glorified by us to-night. 1st. It is the property of fire to 
 communicate light : so doth the word ; " The entrance of thy word 
 giveth light.".. ..Psalm cxix. 130. When we were darkness itself, 
 how did the word enter and shine into our hearts, and give us the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? In sea- 
 sons of darkness, how often has the word brought light into our 
 souls? "Thy word is a light to my path. "....Psalm cxix. 105. 2d. 
 Fire gives heat. How often has the Lord warmed our cold hearts 
 and melted down our hard hearts with the fire of his word of love and 
 ^race? " I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with 
 loving kindness have I drawn thee."....Jer. xxxi. 3. Say, has not such 
 a word as this been in one's heart as burning fire shut up in our bones ? 
 ....Jer. XX. 9. Lord, multiply such burning seasons. 3d. Fire con- 
 suMETH, so doth the word: when it burns in the heart, it consumes 
 our cursed lusts, hateful pride, deceitful, self-righteous hopes, vain 
 and worldly desires, legal terrors, and tormenting dread of death. 
 Lord, cause this heavenly fire to burn in our hearts and consume 
 more and more. For, 4th. The word, like fire, purifies. " Ye 
 have purified your souls, in obeying the truth, through the Spirit.".... 
 1 Pet. i. 22. While the fire of the word burns within, purity is pre- 
 served in heart, lip and life. 5th. Fire causeth smoke. No sooner 
 doth the word kindle fire in the heart, but the smoke of incense, 
 of prayer and praise, ascend up to the Lord. Christ compares his 
 church to " pillars of smoke, "....Song iii. 6. ...and his people to 
 smoking flax. ...Matt. xii. 20. For the word of the Lord is like fire 
 in their heart ; and their affections, like smoke, ascend up unto 
 him. O thou great inditer of the word 1 Cause the word of Christ 
 to dwell in us richly in all wisdom, that we may continue in his 
 word, that it may be manifest that we are his disciples indeed.... 
 John viii. 31. 
 
 The Lord appeals unto each soul, Like fire, it burns within cur heart, 
 
 For proof of what he saith : And doth our lusts consume. 
 
 Doth not his word our pow'rs controul, And fills with love our cv'ry pnvr. 
 When it is known by faith? And doth our works perfuire M 
 
 Vol. II. M m 
 
C&2 OCTOBER S-. 
 
 Foi^asnuich as ye knozv that your labour is not in vain in 
 the Lord.... I Cor. xv. 58. 
 
 Christian knowledge is the source of comfort, and the 
 spring- of obedience. The knowledge of God's love to us in Christ, 
 received into the heart by faith, animates us to be, and to do, what 
 the Lord calls us to in our lives'. Paul appeals to christians. Ye 
 KN0w....what ? that you are called, not to loiter, but to labour: not 
 to stand idle, but to work: not merely to talk of the truths of Chris- 
 tianity, but to walk in the ways of the Lord. But O, sweetest of all 
 labouring, working and walking, it is the labour of love, the work of 
 faith, and the walk of hope ; and we have Christ's presence and 
 power in all. We know, we are fully persuaded, we are divinely 
 assured our labour is not in vain ; for it is in the Lord. It is begun 
 by his grace, carried ,on by his power, in sweet fellowship with 
 him, IN love to him, in dependence on him, in assurance that we 
 are accepted in him, and therefore in an humble hope and loving 
 desire to glorify him. Such a soul labours lawfully : his labour is ac- 
 cepted : his work sliall be crowned : he is blessed now by his Lord : 
 he shall be blessed eternally with his Lord. The humble soul draAvs 
 -liack : the self-abased heart, jealous of his dear Lord's honor, cries, 
 *' FoAear, I am an unprofitable servant ; I have no merit ; I come 
 short in all I do ; my desert is hell ; I claim nothing at my Lord's 
 hand ; I am a poor sinner, who must be infinitely and eternally in- 
 <lebted to the riches of free grace." 
 
 True, O soul, thou dost not work like free-will hirelings, for 
 wages ; yet, as a free-grace labourer, thou shalt have a free-grace 
 reward ; not of debt, due to thy merit, but of grace, by thy Lord's 
 free promise ; not a crumb of comfort, not a drop of cold water 
 given in the name of Christ to one of his, but thy Lord notices 
 in love, takes kindly at thy l^and, and will never, never forget. O 
 matcliless love of Christ ! he gives grace to miserable sinners, his 
 grace works to will and to do in their hearts ; and he rewards hell- 
 deserving sinners with gifts of grace in time and with the riches of 
 glory in eternity. O blessed master! O precious labour ! O joyful 
 recOmpence of reward ! Say, now, christian, is not here all encou- 
 ragement to diligence and activity ? O, go on labouring for thy Lord's 
 glory ; large wages seeking in, not for thy works. Confidently 
 mayest thou say, with Paul, " There is laid up for mc a crown of 
 righteousness. "....2 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
 I dare not work my soul to save, No workr, of fa'uh can be in vain. 
 That work my I.nrd hath done; Bec;ui .e they're wrought in love; 
 
 Yet I would work like any slave, Since now our enmity is slain, 
 From love to God's dear Son. We work for Christ above. M. 
 
OCTOBER 6. no- 
 
 My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy. 
 ziord.... Psalm cxix. 81. 
 
 David's words furnish us with these obsei'vations, 1st. That it" 
 is a sure evidence, that that sinner is savingly convinced of sin by 
 the Spirit of God, when the salvation of Jesus is the desire of his 
 heart. 2d. That the soul, though destitute of the joy of faith, in 
 the assurance of interest in Christ's salvation, yet may have the 
 grace of hope in lively, exercise. Sd. That in fainting frames of 
 soul, the word of the Lord is the sure support of hope. Study these 
 points: settle them in your hearts: the Lord give comfort from 
 them. When a person faints the blood returns to the heart; it 
 ceaseth to flow through the veins : hence the spirits sink, nature 
 fails, life and strength depart, the eyes see not, the hands cannot 
 hold, the feet cannot walk. Have you not experienced it thus with 
 your soul ? Have you not found things at a very low ebb with you, 
 just ready to give up all hope and let all confidence go, just at the 
 last gasp? Seethe actiiigs of a gracious soul. Learn experience by 
 David's conduct: he thinks of his best friend, his dear Saviour ;. 
 he looks up to him ; he tells him what he faints for, thy salva- 
 tion : for fresh knowledge of interest in it ; for the joys and com- 
 forts of it. What 1 When his sins stared him in the face? When 
 his conscience was burdened witli guilt ? When his spirits failed 
 him, his soul fainted within him, and without assurance in his heart 
 of interest in Christ's salvation ? Is this a time to go to Clirist ? 
 Yes, the very time, the proper time, the time of need, in which 
 we are exhorted to come boldly. ...Ileb. iv. 16. O, my fainting fel- 
 low sinners! What a precious Saviour is Jesus 1 What a glorious 
 salvation hath he finished for us ! What a special mercy that the 
 loving Spirit excites desires in our souls after the enjoyment of it ! 
 Well, though David's soul faints, yet, says he, I hope in thy word. 
 What, without faith ? No : he had living faith in his heart, though 
 he fainted for the joy and comfort of faith : he believed the word of 
 grace and salvation, and he hoped for the fulfilment of the promises 
 of his Lord, to the reviving of his soul: he honors his Lord's word, 
 trusts in his faithfulness, and casts the anchor of his hope upon his 
 truth : go and do likewise ; " for we are saved by hope.". ...Rom. 
 viii. 24. " Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure 
 and stedfast, and whicli entereth into that within the vail, whithes 
 Jesus is for us entered.".. ..Heh. vi. 19, 20. 
 
 My spirits sink, my heart doth faint, On that I daily will rely, 
 Forthy salvation, Lord, 'Till thou my soul revive,. 
 
 Thy peace bestow, thy presence grant, Thy word of truth can never die. 
 My hope is in thy word. Therefore by faith I live. M. 
 
284 OCTOBER 7. 
 
 Ye are risen zvifh liim^ through the faith of the operation 
 of God.... Coin. 12. 
 
 Who are risen with Christ? All the members of his mystical 
 body : he is their head and representative : they are all mystically 
 risen with him ; but they have no knowledge or comfort of this, till 
 another resurrection is experienced by them : this is what the apos- 
 tle here alludes to : this is by faith. As soon as any poor sinner 
 knows, understtmds and believes that Christ died for our offences, 
 and was raised again for our justification, that soul is actually risen 
 with Christ. Here behold, 1st. The preciousness of faith. 2d. 
 Whose operation it is. 3d. The glorious effects it hath upon the 
 heart and life : it brings Christ into the soul. Faith causes the soul 
 to ascend up to Christ. Thus, this living, powerful, influencing 
 grace, which is the work of the Holy Ghost, is distinguished from 
 a dead faith, a lifeless assent, a barren notion which floats in the 
 heads of carnal professors. Examine yourselves : prove and try 
 your faith this night. Is your faith from Christ above? Then it 
 leads your hearts and affections from things below to Christ above. 
 Be not deceived : take not up with a notion of faith in your head 
 instead of the grace of faith in your heart : the former will leave 
 you just where it found you, in your sins, with the love of the 
 ■world reigning in your heart ; the riches, honors, and pleasures of 
 the world your idols and your pursuits; and yourself only a poor, 
 cold-hearted, formal professor. O how many of this soi't abound ! 
 They differ from the rest of the world only in notion and specula- 
 tion ; in tongue and doctrine. Lord Jesus, forbid that this should 
 be our state ! If Ave have the faith of the operation of God the Holy 
 Ghost, our souls will be fired with the love of Christ, our hearts 
 will burn with ardent love to him, his truths, his people and his 
 cause : we shall delight to live above with him and long to reign 
 eternally in his presence : we shall consider the body as our prison, 
 overcome the world as our enemy, and treat all things with contempt 
 in comparison of fellowship with our God and Saviour. If we are 
 not at all times thus happy, at least we shall hunger and thirst after 
 it. Risen souls are earnestly concerned to have gospel-doctrines 
 brought into heart-experience and life-influence. O sun of righte- 
 ousness, let us feel thy warm, enlivening beams upon our hearts, 
 that we may not grow cold, formal and languid before thee : thee ; 
 is the power. 
 
 Then raise our low afTections, Lord, Thus shall we know we're rais'd indeed 
 
 To live above with thee : From earth and hell and sin; 
 
 Let formal frames be e'er abhorr'd: To live with thee our glorious head, 
 
 Let us thy glory see. Whose love doth reign within. M. 
 
OCTOBER 8. 285- 
 
 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble 
 shall hear thereof and be glad... .Psalm xxxiv. 2. 
 
 There was a poor, vain-glorious boaster, who had .arrived to 
 the summit of his happiness, and attained the zenith of his glory: 
 the sun of prosperity shined with great splendor upon him ; he bid 
 adieu to all care : down he sat to solace himself; " Soul," said he, 
 " thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, 
 drink and be merry." But, awful moment ! solemn speech ! God 
 said unto him, " Thou fool, this night thy soiil shall be required of 
 thee. "....Luke xii. 19,20. Ohow many such fools are there, who think 
 the soul can be made happy in outward ease, eating and drinking, 
 and carnal enjoyments I Alas I one moment dashes the honey of 
 their comforts into the gall of disappointment : not so that soul 
 who boasts in the Lord. This was not a transient fit of David's, 
 caused by a warm frame of the passions ; for, says he, " I will 
 bless the Lord at all times : his praise shall be continually in 
 my mouth." This is living indeed like a son of God and an heir of 
 glory. Paul, like David, sets us the same example. Christ and 
 free-grace, says Luther, was ever in his mouth : he never thought 
 he could mention the precious name of Christ too often : he repeats 
 it in every verse of the ten, of 1 Cor. i. If Christ is the boast and 
 glory of our souls, his name will ever be uppermost in our hearts 
 and upon our tongue. It was the martyr Lambert's motto, " None 
 but Christ, none but Christ." It is said of one, that he seldom or 
 «ver mentioned the name Jesus without a tear. A martyr was 
 judged to be dead, being burned as black as a coal in the fire, mo- 
 ved his scorched lips, and was heard to say, " Sweet Jesus," and 
 fell asleep. These were all poor, needy sinners, like ourselves ; 
 they*^aw their want of Christ ; they believed what he had done for 
 them ; and was to them ; they gloried in him and made him the 
 boast of their souls. The humble are glad to hear of this: it de- 
 lights their souls to hear the name of their Saviour boasted in, his 
 sacrifice gloried of, his righteousness exalted, and his salvation the 
 triumph of sinners ; their hearts catch the sound, and with a glow 
 of the fire of love they join the heavenly cry, " Worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain to receive honor, and glory, and blessing/' &c.... 
 Rev. v. 12. O how vastly different is this from self-exalting and 
 self-boasting : but God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the 
 humble.. ..James iv. 6. 
 
 What tho' I am but filth and sin, Jesu, who gave thyself for -me, 
 A wretch both vile and poor. Keep down my haughty pride : 
 
 Yet I will boast of Christ my King, Let all my glorying be of thee. 
 My righteousness and store. For I have nought beside. M. 
 
566 OCTOBER 9. 
 
 But God, :vho is rich in mcrcij.for his great love whei^^ 
 iiith he loved us, even zchen we were dead in sins, hatk 
 quickened us together with Christ ; (by grace ye are 
 saved).. ..Eph. ii. 4. 5. 
 
 My dear brethren in Christ, and thou, O my soul, one chief. 
 Teason vhy at any time we have so little comfort and are so low in 
 joy is, we do not enough believe and live upon the love of God. Let 
 \is never think of, or look for any mercy from God, without consi- 
 dering that it flows from i.ove. Is God rich in mercy to any ? It is 
 because he loves them. Great love, everlasting, unchangeable love 
 is the source and spring of rich mercy. It was rich mercy, for God 
 to give us his beloved Son to be our Saviour iu time. This was 
 because of his great love, to us before time : he loved us from eter- 
 nity in his Son: he loves us invariably the same through time and 
 T'.nder all states and circumstances : yea, when we were forlorn, 
 hopeless, helpless, loathsome and desperate, even dead in sins, he 
 loved us with great love, too great to be conceived or expressed : 
 he manifested it by bestowing rich mercy upon us ; mercy, so 
 rich, so free, so liberal, that it came to us unsought, unasked, un- 
 deserved. His gre?it love for us was the parent of his rich mercy 
 to us. Mercy without love may be exercised by an enemy ; but 
 the mercy of God flows from the loving heart of a father : he saw 
 our souls dead in sin, dead under his law, dead to himself. Did he 
 leave us ? No. He loved us with great love, therefore in rich mercy 
 he quickened us. Quickened us 1 is that all ? A quickened soul, some 
 think, is in a very inferior degiree of grace ; it is neither justified 
 nor sanctified : but such are great strangers to the rich mercy and 
 great love of God ; and they do not consider, that souls are quickened 
 together with Christ. There is the sweetness of quickening 
 mercy enjoyed. Quickened souls see their sinfulness, know their 
 poverty, feel their misery and wretchedness, and groan under a body 
 of sin and death : but here is their glory, joy and comfort, they are 
 one with Christ : his life is theirs, his death is theirs, his righteous- 
 ness is theirs, his holiness is theirs, his fulness is theirs. Tliough sin 
 is not dead in us, yet Ix'ing one with Christ, we are dead indeed un- 
 to sin and alive to God. By grace ye are saved : neither you 
 nor your works have the least hand in salvation. Therefore rejoice ; 
 it is not precarious and uncertain whether you shall be saved: for 
 quickened souls may be as sure of it as if they were now before the 
 throne. O, may love, mercy and grace, be the constant theme of 
 our souls. 
 
 We'll sing rich mercy and great love, Then let us live like saints on earth. 
 To us so freely giv'n Tho' we are sinners poor, 
 
 By God our Father from above. That we may prove our heav'nly birth. 
 Whereby we're heirs of hciv'n. And Christ our Lord adore. M. 
 
OCTOBER 10. 28r 
 
 Mine iniquities are gone over mine head : as an heavy 
 burden, thei/ are too heavy for me.... Psalm xxxviii. 4. 
 
 Though there may be pleasures in sin for a season, yet at the 
 last, " it biteth like a serpent, and stingelh like an adder." O, 
 come hither and see how the venom of sin has overspread poor Da- 
 vid's whole frame : read this Psalm : mark the anguish of his con- 
 science and the distress of his solil ; and say, is not sin exccedinij 
 sinful ? What pain, out of hell, can be compared to the pain of a 
 guilty conscience ? But better, infinitely better, to smart for sin 
 here than to cry out of the smart of sin in hell. Conviction of sin 
 by the Spirit is in order to cleansing from sin by the blood of Christ. 
 Better to roar from the disquietness of one's soul on earth, than to 
 sleep secure in sin, till we drop into and roar for sin in the bottom- 
 less pit : one or other will be the portion of all flesh. Two similies 
 are before us expressive of David's distress. 1st. " Mine iniquities 
 are gone over mine head." He was like a man in the greatest dan- 
 ger of drowning ; overwhelmed with distress, like one whose head 
 was under water : his iniquities caused his soul to sink within him. 
 2d. They were as a heavy burden. He had greater weight upon 
 him than he could stand under. He cries out, as though ready to 
 lie crushed by its ponderous load, " they are too heavy for me." 
 3d. Look at his cry, and hear upon whom he calls : " Make haste 
 to help me, O Lord, my salvation. "....Psalm xxxviii. 22. Though 
 sinking under and pressed down with his iniquities on his conscience, 
 yet he had salvation in view and the Lord of his salvation as his 
 .hope. O Lord, my Jesus. Now, can you be in a worse plight than 
 David Avas ? Can you be under more distressing circumstances ? He 
 was sinking in deep waters, with a ponderous load upon him. In 
 such a state, you may discover whether your convictions are evan- 
 gelical and you possess the faith of God's elect or not. Legal con- 
 victions only fill the soul with terror, drive it from God, and leave 
 it in despair without hope. Convictions from the Spirit, the com- 
 forter, lead the soul to Christ ; and the faith, hope and cry of the 
 soul will be after the help and salvation of Jesus only : for, he is 
 " the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." Be- 
 hold him, O my soul, under every sense of guilt ; believe him, un- 
 der every dejection of soul, for he hath assured us, " all manner of 
 *in and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.".. ..Matt. xii. 31. 
 
 When sin does weigh my spirits down, I bless the Spirit's holy grace. 
 
 And dread besets my soul : Who doth convince of sin, 
 
 Lord, then thy sacrifice I'll own, And leads me (JD my Saviour's face. 
 
 Thy blood can make me whole. For pard'ning love within. M. 
 
288 OCTOBER II. 
 
 But as many as received him, to them gave he poioer to 
 become the sons of God Tolin i. 12. 
 
 Man lost paradise by receiving a gift from satan. There is no 
 way to regain it, but by receiving Christ, the gift of God. Am I 
 one of the many who have received Christ ? This question is of 
 eternal moment. If I have not, no matter what I profess, by what 
 name I am called, what I think of myself, or others think concern- 
 ing me ; for I am certainly in a state of wrath, exposed to eternal 
 flamnation. "What answer docs conscience return to this important 
 question ? God may this night require my soul. I may be in eter- 
 nity before the morning light. Have I received Christ or not? 
 What is it to receive Christ .' Many precious souls are sadly per- 
 plexed and greatly distressed here. But why should they ? St. 
 John plainly tells us, to receive Christ, is to believe on his name, 
 that he is the anointed Saviour of lost sinners. Do you receive this 
 truth into your heart ? Does your mind go out after Christ ? Do 
 you hunger and thirst to know him, as your Saviour, to save you ? 
 Then, as sure as you exist you do believe in Christ's name. Bless 
 the holy Spirit, who has opened your eyes to see his glory and 
 your heart to receive this precious Jesus : hear and rejoice : he 
 gives you, and all such, " power to become the Son of God." 
 Not merely puts it in the power of your free-will to choose whether 
 you Avill become a son of God or not ; but he actually bestows this 
 heavenly honor upon us. He gives us the right (or privilege as 
 in the margin of our bibles) of enjoying the comfort and blessing of 
 being the adopted sons of God. O the riches of neAV covenant grace 
 and love 1 What a miracle of mercy is this! Of the children of 
 wrath and heirs of hell, Christ makes us sons of God and heirs of 
 heaven ! Why then do you ever live uncomfortably or walk unho- 
 lily ? It is because you do not assert your right, maintain your 
 PRIVILEGE, and live up to your power, in your mind and conscience. 
 Hence love to, and delight in your Father God and your Saviour 
 Jesus, are wanting. O remember, ever remember, as you received 
 Christ by fiiilh, all your power, peace and comfort flows from him 
 through faith : study, strive and pray to the Spirit to keep faith lively 
 in act and exercise, that you may live and walk on earth so as to 
 glorify your Father who is in heaven : for if you are a son of God, 
 by faith in Christ, you have got the heart of a son ; the fear, the 
 love, the hope, and the delight of a son of God ; and you will rejoice 
 to think that you shall soon be at home with your heavenly Father. 
 
 Am I a son of God, thro' faith May it my daily study he 
 
 Receiving Jesus Cliriit ? To live and walk by faith. 
 
 Rejoice, my soul, and glory give And glerify my Father God, 
 
 To Christ in whom thou'rt blest. Obeying what he saith. M. 
 
OCTOBER 12. 289 
 
 Who are kept by the poiuer of God, through faith, tmto 
 salvation....! Pet. i. 5. 
 
 The wicked, ^vho are totally ignorant of the doctrines of grace, 
 preach this truth by their common saying, " They only are well kept 
 whom God keeps." Many, who profess to preach the gospel, do 
 not hold forth such sound divinity as this. Consider these three 
 points. Who are thus kept ? How are they kept ? Unto what are 
 they kept? 1st. Who are kept ? Peter tells us, 1st. They are the 
 elect according to the fore-knowledge of God. 2d. " Sanctified by 
 the Spirit unto obedience." They obey the Father's voice : they 
 hear and believe on his beloved Son. Hence, 3d. Sprinkled by the 
 blood of Christ from the guilt of sin in their consciences. 4th. 
 " Begotten to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to 
 an inheritance reserved in heaven for them." The work of the glo- 
 rious trinity has passed upon them. 5th. Christ calls them " my 
 sheep."... . John X. 14. This implies that we are very weak, timor- 
 ous, helpless creatures. If left to our own keeping, to stand by 
 our own power, and to persevere by our own faithfulness, alas ! we 
 should be quite out of heart ; for we must perish everlastingly : but 
 God does not beget children whom satan shall destroy : Christ doth 
 not redeem souls, whom hell shall receive : the Spirit sanctifies none 
 who shall 'have their portion with the damned : therefore they are 
 all kept. 2d. How? By the power of God, as in an impregnable 
 garrison : they are garrisoned in Christ, in God: the power of al- 
 mighty God surrounds them. This is the God-honoring, soul- 
 triumphing language of their faith, "Jehovah is my rock, my for- 
 tress, my deliverer, my God, (my Elohim in covenant) my strength, 
 in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, 
 and my high tower.".. ..Psalm xviii. 2. You see they are kept 
 through faith : that keeps them low, humble and dependent ; that 
 leads them quite out of self and nature into God's power, grace and 
 strength : they are most sensible of their own weakness to stand, 
 inability to persevere and proneness to fall away. Therefore they 
 trust most on the power of God through faith. Their faith can 
 never fail. Christ prays for them. As he keeps their persons, so 
 he suffers not their faith to fail: they look unto Jesus. Is this your 
 blessed character ? Rejoice. For, 3d. You are kept.. ..unto what ? 
 Salvation. That shall be the end of your faith. Those whom 
 Christ has redeemed by his blood, justified by his grace, he will 
 save unto eternal glory ; they are as safe in his hands now, as though 
 round his throne in glory. 
 
 Lord, keep me safe, and keep me near And make me ever more to fear. 
 Thy blessed self in love i The ways of sin to prove. M. 
 
 Vol. II. N n 
 
290 OCTOBER 13. 
 
 What then?..., Bom. vi. 15. 
 
 These short and frequent interrogations of scripture are greatly 
 to be prized : there is a vast deal contained in these questions, " What 
 shall we say then ?" What then ? They are like the word Shibboleth 
 with which they tried the people of old. But they could not frame their 
 mouths to pronounce it. They corrupted the word, and said, Sib- 
 BOLETH. So many at this day corrupt the word of the glorious 
 doctrines of grace, by leaving out the H, holiness ; which all 
 the doctrines of the holy gospel are divinely calculated to promote. 
 " What then ?" comes most suitable after the precious doctrine of 
 the justified saints of God being kept by his power to eternal salva- 
 tion. What then? O, Avhenever you think of God's everlasting 
 love and Christ's finished salvation, and of glory being sure and 
 certain to you, ask your heart. What then ? Shall I continue in sin, 
 because such unmerited love, grace and mercy abounds to me ? 
 No: you will reject the thought with the utmost abhorrence, crying in 
 the fervor of faith and love, God forbid! For, 1st. Your soul will be 
 kept alive to God: you will have sincere love to him, his truths, his pro- 
 mises, and his commands: you will have a filial fear of offending 
 him, a godly jealousy for his honor and glory ; and delight in his 
 worship and service. All this naturally results from a lively faith 
 in his Son Jesus Christ. Where this is not, all is not right within : 
 there will be suspicions of your faith and hope. 2d. You will be 
 dead to sin : you cannot live and walk under the power of it : you 
 will be groaning under it ; striving against it ; aspiring after victory 
 over it ; longing for perfect freedom from it ; looking to Jesus and 
 expecting it. 3d. You will be dead to the world : you can no longer 
 live after its vain customs and sinful manners, pleased with its sen- 
 sual pleasures and carnal delights : you will put away all such 
 childish things, now you are a man in Christ. 4tli. You will live in 
 love with the people of God and have sweet fellowship uiih the 
 brethren of Christ : these you will choose and delight in as yo\ir 
 companions and familiar friends : you will be perfectly agreed with 
 the men of this world. They like not your company: you will not 
 theirs. For, 5th. Your grand study and chief aim is to keep up 
 and walk in sweet fellowship with God the Father and his Son Jesus 
 Christ : therefore whatever tends to prevent the comfortable enjoy- 
 ment of this, you will carefully avoid : what tends to promote this, 
 you will diligently pursue. 
 
 If 'God doth sinners evor love, [then ? Vouchsafe lo keep me daily Lord 
 And Christ hath dy'd to save, what From sin, walking iu holiness; 
 Our hearts and liopes should he above, Conform my life unto thy word, 
 And we should never sin again. That peace and joy I may possess. M. 
 
OCTOBER 14. 291 
 
 Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded..., PhiL 
 iii. 15. 
 
 Speaking of righteousness unto justification of eternal life, 
 Paul says, "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." 
 Rom. xi. 7. What were they blinded by ? Their own righteousness. 
 This, like a cloud, intercepted the |flory of the sun of righteous- 
 ness from their minds : their own righteousness prevented their 
 seeing their want of the righteousness of Christ to justify them he- 
 fore God. So of perfection ; many are so blinded with their own 
 fancied perfection that they see net the glorious perfection of Christ, 
 and how poor sinners in themselves are absolutely perfect in him. 
 Paul just before said, he was not perfect : now he says he is perfect. 
 What can he mean? Ironically, say some; by way of sneer upon 
 those who fancied theniselves perfect. Say, others comparatively- 
 perfect, with respect to those who are ignorant of Christ; perfect 
 in parts, but not in degree : but, I humbly presume, it is most 
 agreeable to the analogy of faith to suppose he here means what he 
 elsewhere speaks of, " perfect as pertaining to the conscience, by 
 the work of Christ.".. ..Heb. ix. 9. How are some poor souls puz- 
 zled and others deluded about perfection ! Mind : here is a perfec- 
 tion which every believer is possessed of, pertaining to the con- 
 science : this is received and enjoyed there by faith in the atone- 
 ment and righteousness of the Son of God; "By whom we have 
 NOW received the atonement.".... Rom. v. 11. It is received by faith 
 and applied to our consciences, so that we have no more conscience 
 of sins but what we hayc the perfect atonement of Christ's blood to 
 plead and to cleanse us from. So of the condemnation of the law: 
 we have the perfect righteousness of Christ to answer it ; hence 
 there is now no condemnation to us. Thus, being delivered from 
 wrath, guilt and condemnation, by the perfect work of our Im- 
 manuel, our consciences are at perfect peace with God, perfectly 
 reconciled to him ; we are made perfectly accepted in the beloved. 
 Thus we are perfect ; for our title to glory is perfect and complete. 
 The Spirit, who thus perfected us by faith, bears witness of it in the 
 word and to our consciences. O glorious state ! O blessed perfec- 
 tion ! Thus our Lord's prayer is answered upon us, " I in them, 
 and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one."... .John 
 xvii. 23. Hence Paul exhorts, " Be thus minded." We must re- 
 serve this for the next meditation. Ever remember, " The law 
 made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did ; by 
 which we draw nigh unto God.". ...Heb. vii. 19, 
 
 Perfect in Christ we stand compleat, Justice acquits, grace makes us meet 
 Before God's holy tluoue, Glory to God alone. 
 
292 OCTOBER 15. 
 
 Ltt US, as many as he perfect , be thus minded..., PhiL 
 iii. 15. 
 
 Paul says, his pr'eaching Christ, warning and teaching every 
 man of his ruined state, in all wisdom, was to this great and glori- 
 ous end, to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.. ..Col. i. 28. 
 How often have our minds been distressed and dejected (I speak for 
 one) seeing our imperfection, in all we are and in all we do ? In- 
 stead of this we are called again and again to rejoice in the Lord 
 Jesus ALWAY."....Phil. iv. 4. This we shall do if our consciences be 
 made perfect by the blessed work of Christ received by faith, as was 
 observed in the last meditation. O, rest not short of perfect satis- 
 faction in this matter. The work of Christ, has perfectly satisfied 
 God's justice and truth, and made honorable his holy law, why 
 should it not perfectly satisfy your conscience and make it perfect ? 
 Now we are exhorted to be like minded.. ..In what respect 1 You will 
 see in the foregoing verses. 1st. Rejoice in the Lord: this is the 
 happy privilege of every believer: yet how sadly neglected! It is a 
 command by which the Lord is as much honored as by obeying any 
 one' of the ten commandments: consider this: be concerned to 
 practice it. 2d. Beware of those who have confidence in the flesh. 
 Paul calls them dogs and evil workers ; as though they were ever 
 barking and cavilling against the perfection which is in Christ Jesus, 
 and opposing somewhat of their own to it. 3d. Worship God in 
 the spirit : in the life and spirit of the gospel of ?,race and peace. 
 4th. Count all things loss for Christ, by whom, you gain all things. 
 Renounce your own righteousness for the righteousness of Christ 
 received by faith. Desire to be found in Christ living, dying, and 
 at the judgment day. 5th. Win Christ and wear him by faith from 
 day to day, that you may be made conformable to his death, in dying 
 to sin, self and the world. 6th. Follow after Christ : knowing that 
 all your perfection is in him, that you may apprehend him, catch 
 faster hold of him, cleave more stedfastly to him, abide more com- 
 fortably in him, that you may enjoy more sweet fellowship with 
 him, for which Christ apprehended you when you was posting to 
 hell. O, never forget his love in this : take faster hold of him. 
 7th. " Press toward the mark, for the prize of your high calling 
 of God in Christ Jesus." Your calling is clear : the prize is before 
 you, a crown of righteousness: the Lord, the righteous judge helds 
 it out for you, and will surely give it you. Looking to him by 
 faith ; "Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth 
 unto the things which are before :" Christ and glory. 
 
 Tho* perfect now. we still press on, We live by faith on God's dear Son, 
 Perfection's prize to gain, 'Till all our foes arc slain. M. 
 
OCTOBER 16; 29S 
 
 We also joi) in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 zvhom ive have now received the atonement. . ..Bom. v. 1 1. 
 
 Having obtained the king's free pardon for a poor man cast 
 for transportation, I carried it to the gaol to him : seeing the poor 
 fettered creature fall down upon his knees to return thanks, caused 
 a burst of tears from mine eyes of heart-felt joy. I thought, this 
 is just what thou, O my precious Saviour, hast done for me : thou 
 hast obtained a free and full pardon of all my sins, set my soul at 
 liberty, and filled it with peace and joy, by the one atonement of thy 
 precious blood. The poor convict had not read his pardon : he had 
 not seen the king's name to it. I only made the report to him that 
 I had got it : he believed me ; hence he was happy, joyful and thank- 
 ful. Thus he received his pardon. Now here is a simple and plain 
 idea of faith. ...Of what ? Receiving the atonement of Christ and of 
 joy in God. You are a poor sinner : the Spirit of God comes and 
 convinces you of sin : you are arraigned, tried, brought in guilty, 
 cast and condemned in the court of conscience : you are concluded 
 under sin and shut up in unbelief: here you wait in sorrow and dis- 
 tress for the sentence of the law to be executed upon you : you mid 
 you can do nothing that can obtain pardon and liberty for your poor 
 soul : but, the gospel brings the glad tidings of the atonement of 
 Christ to your ears, and that by it a full and free pardon is obtained 
 for sinners. Now, what reception does it meet with in your heart ? 
 Say you, I believe it from the very ground of my heart, but I fear it 
 is not for me. It is free for all who will receive it by faith. You 
 believe it, therefore you have received it : you ought to joy in God 
 for it. Examine into the grounds of your fears and doubts. Is the 
 atonement of Christ sufiicient to satisfy divine justice and obtain 
 pardon and peace ? This you cannot doubt. Is it not free for all 
 sorts of sinners ? Of this you can have no fear : " For this is a 
 faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners,"....! Tim. i. 15. ...who are 
 nothing but cursed sinners, and have nothing but cursed sin in them. 
 Do you doubt that you arc too great a sinner ? This cannot be. 
 Paul says, of sinners, I am chief. Yet he received the atone- 
 ment and was saved by it. Learn hence, 1st. That all joy in God 
 springs from the one atonement of Christ for sin, and that only, 
 exclusive of every thing else. 2d. Every one who believes in 
 Christ has now received this atonement. And therefore, 5d. 
 Ought constantly to joy in God the Father's everlasting love. 
 
 No joy in God, to him no love, 'Till faith is given from above, 
 
 We ever can possess ; In Christ our righteousness. M. 
 
294 OCTOBER IT. 
 
 Standfast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has 
 771 a de us free y a fid be not entangled with the yoke of 
 bondage. ...GaL v. 1. 
 Here is somewhat enjoyed, danger of being deprived of it, and 
 the necessity of standing fast in it. Let us consider these three 
 points, looking unto Jesus.. 1st. What is enjoyed? Liberty. 
 One of the most precious blessings in life. But this of all liberties, 
 the most precious ; for, Christ hath made us free in our consciences, 
 1st. From the guilt and power of sin. 2d. From all condemnation 
 of the law. And, 3d. To have access to God as righteous persons. 
 He hath washed away the guilt of our sins by his blood, and sub- 
 dued the power of them by his Spirit ; " He hath redeemed us from 
 the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.".. ..Gal. iii. 13. So 
 that " there is now no condemnation to us, being in Christ Jesus." 
 ....Rora. viii. 1. He presents us before his Father in his perfect 
 righteousness. We are accepted in the beloved, by God, as per- 
 fectly righteous, " to the praise of the glory of his grace."....Ephes. 
 j. 6. Thus Christ hath freed us from the law, sin, death and hell : 
 he has brought us into this blessed liberty by his Spirit. We enjoy 
 this precious freedom in our consciences by faith. O brethren, let 
 us glory in our inestimable privilege : let us ever rejoice in Christ 
 Jesus and give him the glory of our hearts, lips and lives for it. But, 
 2d. See your danger of being entangled again with the yoke of 
 bondage. We who now enjoy the precious liberty of Christ, were 
 once entangled with the law ; a most dreadful yoke it was. Wc 
 felt wrath working in our consciences, and dread and terror hung 
 over our guilty heads from day to day. O, how did we then pant 
 and cry for Christ to set our souls at liberty. We were tied and 
 bound with the chain of our sins, fettered by the law, shut up in un- 
 belief. My soul deeply felt this distress. O beware of bondage 
 again. There is danger on the right hand and on the left. The 
 pleasures of sin and the pride of our hearts, seeking either in whole 
 or in part justification by the law of works, are both equally contra- 
 ry to our freedom in Christ. O let us therefore, 3d. Stand fast in 
 the liberty of Christ. 1st. Against all temptations to sin: oppose 
 your happiness in Christ to all the pleasures of sin, which are but for 
 a season. 2d. Stand fast in your freedom in Christ, against all the 
 corrupt notions of self-righteous men who are under the law, seeking 
 to be justified in whole or in part by their own works. 3d. Against 
 all the accusations of satan : wc overcome him by the blood of the 
 Lamb. 4th. Against all the legal workings of your flesh ; for wc 
 are the Lord's freemen : we are no more under bondage* 
 
 Stand fast, my soul, in Christ thy Lorfl, Emboldcn'd by God's precious word. 
 To legal preachers give not waj, Maintain thy freedom ev'ry day. M. 
 
OCTOBER 18. 335 
 
 And he requested for himself that he might die.... I Kings 
 xix. 4. 
 
 " Elias was a man subject to like passiens as we are.".... 
 James v. 1 7. This request proves it. It arose from fear and dis- 
 content. Both were occasioned by the threats of a weak, but wick- 
 ed woman. Jezebel threatened his life. O how soon and by what 
 weak means are the fine frames of God's children spoiled and dis- 
 composed ! What, Elijah ! that great prophet of the Lord, who had 
 wrought so many notable miracles in the name of the Lord, who 
 had been so miraculously fed by ravens, according to the command 
 of the Lord.. ..he, who had courage tb say, " As the Lord of hosts 
 liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself to incensed 
 Ahab to-day".. ..what, he I who had zeal to face four hundred and 
 fifty of Baal's priests, and to command them all to be slain, what, 
 does he request to die because of the thrcalenings of a woman ?■ 
 What shall we say to this ? Verily, human nature is the same in all, 
 whether prophets, patriarchs, or apostles : all men arc not the same 
 at all times : the flesh is part of themselves : it lusts against the 
 Spirit : this is manifest in all, none excepted. What is man when 
 left of God ? What are the best of men when left to themselves ? 
 And yet the same apostle James says, " Take, my brethren, the 
 prophets who have spoken, in the name of the Lonl, for an exam- 
 ple of suffering artliction, and of patience.". ...James v. 10. But 
 where shall we find a perfect character ? Paul might well say, " We 
 have this treasure (all the gifts and graces of God's Spirit) in 
 earthen vessels." Why ? That the excellency of the power might 
 be of God, and not of us.. ..2 Cor. iv. 7. But if earthen vessels were 
 not sometimes left to themselves they would forget this. Elijah, 
 like Paul, uas in danger of being exalted above measure for his 
 eminent gifts, graces and miraculous works : he is left to be buf- 
 feted, that he might know his own sinfulness and impotence. Learn 
 a lesson hence to-night : pixjphets, apostles, ministers of Christ, are 
 men of like passions, frail sinners like yourselves. Paul forbears 
 glorying ; " Lest," says he, " any man should think of me above 
 what he sees me to be. "....2 Cor. xii. 6. If we so judge of minis- 
 ters, we shall be in great danger of harm thereby. 1st. We shall 
 over-rate them, look to them, instead of through them to God : we 
 shall rest on their teaching instead of God's. Then, 2d. If we do 
 but see those infirmities in them which are common to men, O then, 
 who could have thought it ! we shall under-rate them and be preju- 
 diced against them, so as not to be profited by them. Cease ye 
 from man : look unto the Lord. 
 
296 OCTOBER 19. 
 
 Beh old hs praijeth ....Ads ik, 11. 
 
 In many trades it is customary to shew samples or patterns : 
 by these men judge of the goodness or quality of the whole. Paul 
 sets himself forth as a sample, or pattern of the free, distinguishing, 
 sovereign, immerited grace of God, that we should judge of its na- 
 ture by its efficacy upon him : " I obtained mercy, for this cause, 
 that in me first (a first rate sinner) Jesus Christ might shew forth 
 all long suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter be- 
 lieve on him to life everlasting."....! Tim. i. 16. Thou hast seen 
 this pattern of free grace. What dost thou think of it ? The 
 ■whole is alike with the pattern : it cometh alike upon all elect sin- 
 ners : it finds no more pre-requisites, fitness, qualifications, or con- 
 ditions in any than it did in Paul. Whenever it takes place upon 
 any, it produceth the same effects as it did in him. Grace and 
 mercy from Jesus, makes Saul pray to Jesus : there is the empha- 
 sis : this is the main point : " Behold, he prayeth." To whom ? 
 Doubtles, he had prayed much and often, while an unconverted 
 pharisee ; but it was to an unknown God. He kneAv there was a 
 God : he knew it was his duty to pray to hinv ; but he knew him not. 
 But now, Jesus speaks to him : God manifests himself to him in 
 Christ : therefore, behold, take special notice of this, " Behold he 
 • prayeth," to Jesus ; to God in Christ. He no longer durst come 
 to God in his own name, to expect access to God and acceptance 
 ■with him on account of his own sincerity, works of righteousness, 
 8cc. but in the name, blood and righteousnes of the Son of God 
 ONLY. So he prayed, so he evidenced his conversion to Jesus ; 
 hence the true Spirit of prayer manifested itself in him ; his prayers 
 were agreeable to, and sprung from his knowledge of himself as a 
 poor sinner and faith in the Son of God as the only Saviour. This 
 is the prayer which God delights in, takes special notice of, and re- 
 fers to as an evidence of true conversion. Hence know, prayerless 
 soiils are Christless. Prayer, without the knowledge of Christ, faith 
 in him, hope of eternal life by him, and acceptance through him, is 
 only lip service and formal duty : but, the spirit of prayer arises in 
 the heart, from a discovery of a God in Christ ; the knowledge of 
 him, by believing his word of grace and truth, and expecting his 
 mercy and salvation, according to his great and precious promises 
 given in Christ. Dost thou pray thus ? Then it may be truly said 
 of thee, behold thou art converted ; thy prayers evidence it : the 
 God who heareth prayer hath manifested himself to thee as he does 
 not unto the world. 
 
 We cannot pray when we are dead, Of Jesus and his saving aid ; 
 
 Because we feel no want But mercy he doth grant. M. 
 
OCTOBER 20. 29r 
 
 But one thing is needful.... Luke x. 42. 
 
 Happy, most happy for that soul who can simply bring all 
 things into a unit, to center in one point. More than one object per- 
 plexes the mind. If to double business bent, we stand and pause 
 where we shall first begin, and both neglect. What is the one 
 THING NEEDFUL? By which it is plain our Saviour means, the soul 
 keeping close company with himself. This Mary did : she sat at 
 his feet and heard his word. Every thing else is but cumbering work, 
 compared with this ; for this one thing comprizes all the holiness, 
 happiness and heavenly-mindedness of the soul. O if we have the 
 presence of Jesus, guilty fears vanish, dejecting doubts are scatter- 
 ed, legal terrors are silenced, anxious cares subside, strong tempta- 
 tions loose their force, satan is resisted, afflictions sweetened, tur- 
 bulent passions calmed, raging corruptions subdued, pride is brought 
 down, humility is excited, peace with God is enjoyed, holiness pro- 
 moted, the fear of death conquered, the terrors of hell chased 
 av/ay, the prospect of glory, in the full fruition of Jesus, is aspired 
 after and longed for, earth loses its charms, heaven is in the heart, 
 to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, becomes the 
 one desire of the soul. Say, O christian, what one thing else can 
 produce so many, such blessed effects, as close communion with 
 our Saviour ? Is not this then the one thing, above all others, 
 needful ? Needful at all times and in all seasons ; needful in the 
 hour of prosperity and in the day of adversity. O, if this one 
 thing is maintained in the soul, believer, you may live as you list, 
 and do what you please ; for sweet communion with Christ ever 
 subjects the will, attracts the affections, and begets holy conformity 
 to him. You will not list, you cannot like, you dare not follow any 
 thing which is contrary to your Lord, while you live near him and 
 dwell in holy fellowship with him. Thus religion is brought to a 
 single point ; holiness and happiness resolved into one thing; there 
 is but ONE Lord, to make you holy and happy, but one faith by 
 which you know it, and cleave to him for this ; but there are a 
 thousand things to prevent this. O may this one thing needful rise 
 superior to all 1 Think, O my soul, of Mary's choice. Remember 
 thy Saviour's approbation of it. O, do thou also choose this good 
 part, which shall never be taken away. 
 
 Where, O my soul, canst thou find He came in humble form to bow, 
 In all thy troubles great ? [peace, To thy complaining voice : 
 
 Christ's word can only bring release : O to him with thy burden go, 
 Sit at thy Saviour's feet, His words hear and rejoice. M. 
 
 Vol. II. O o 
 
298 OCTOBER 21. 
 
 Then said Jonathaii inilo David, Whatsoever thy soul de- 
 sireth, I zvill even do it for thee....\ Sam. xx. 4. 
 
 Such is the language of generous love and sincere friendship. 
 There never was a greater instance of it subsisted between men, 
 than between Jonathan and David. Poor David Avas in great dis- 
 tress: Saul sought his life: he flies to his friend Jonathan, opens 
 his whole heart to him, and solemnly assures him, " as thy soill 
 liveth, there is but one step between me and death." On which, 
 Jonathan thus declares his love and faithfulness, " Whatsoever thy 
 soul desireth, I will even do it for thee." How must David's heart 
 be struck by this noble, this loving premise! O christian, here is 
 somewhat very similar to thine own case. Consider, 1st. There is 
 but a step between thee and death: thou knowest not hoAv soon thy 
 last step is to be taken. What friend hast thou to go to? Verily the 
 King's Son: the Son of God. As Jonathan signifies, given of 
 THK Lord : so Jesus is the gift of the Lord, to be a friend and a 
 Saviour to all his Davids, to all his beloved people. 2d. Great as 
 the love, sincere as the friendship of Jonathan was, yet the love 
 and friendship of Jesus infinitely exceeds it. Jonathan never laid 
 down his life for his fiiend David : Jesus did for all his beloved ; and 
 he gives them this full and precious promise, " Whatsoever ye ask 
 in my name, that will I do. "....John xiv. 13. 3d. The power as 
 well as the love of our heavenly friend, Jesus, infinitely exceeds 
 Jonathan's ; his love might wish to do that for David which his 
 power was not able to effect: but not so with Christ ; his power is 
 as great as his love, and neither knows measure nor end. 4th. Was 
 David happy in having such a friend, in Avhose bosom he could pour 
 his sorrows and upon whose love he could trust his concerns? Infi- 
 nitely more happy art thou, O christian, thou beloved of the Lord. 
 Does thy soul desire heaven below and heaven above in the enjoy- 
 ment of Christ? "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all 
 we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.".... 
 Eph. iii. 20. Blessed be the day I ever knew this beloved friend. 
 All power in heaven and earth is committed to our friend Jesus. 
 Seeing this is so, why art not thou constantly happy in such a friend 
 as Christ is ? Why, 1st. You entertain base suspicions of his love, 
 by unbelief. Therefore, 2d. You do not prove his love and his 
 power, by coming freely to him and telling him thy sorrows, as 
 David did to Jonathan : " Ye have not, because ye ask not.".. ..James 
 
 How sweet upon our Saviour's love, It brings down comforts from above, 
 Daily to meditate ? • And doth to heaven translate. M. 
 
OCTOBER 22. 299 
 
 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made 
 void, and the promise made of none effect.... B.om. 
 iv. 14. 
 
 Who are of the law? The openly professed Jew only ? Nay, 
 verily, but every man who has the faith and hope of a Jew, he is of 
 the law. What is their faith and hope ? Every man's hope is of the 
 same nature as his faith. A Jew believes that he is to seek for righ- 
 teousness and life by the works of the law ; that on account of his 
 obedience to it he hopes he shall be an heir of life and glory. Well, 
 but the Jews totally reject Christ, says one, but I do not. I believe 
 Christ died for the siiis of the whole world ; that I am justified and 
 pardoned through his blood now ; and that at the last day I shall be 
 justified and entitled to God's kingdom for the sake of my good 
 works : that there is first a justification by faith and a second justi- 
 fication by works. Take knowledge of thyself: thou art of the law 
 and under the law, and cxpectest to be an heir of eternal life by the 
 law. Whatever thou professest of faith in Christ, it is not the faith 
 of the gospel ; it does not own Christ the Saviour. This is a perilous^ 
 creature-exalting notion: it degrades grace ; it debases Christ; it 
 dwells only in proud hearts, legal minds, and self-righteous spirits ; 
 it aNyfully prevails in our day. The heirs of grace should oppose it: 
 for, if those of the law be heirs on any account of works, what 
 then ? Faith is made void ; faith fixes upon the sole work of the 
 Son of God. By faith we become joint-heirs with Christ, enter in 
 and possess the hope of eternal life : we are in actual possession of 
 it. Hence we are filled with joy and peace in believing. That 
 soul, who is striving by any works or doings of his own, to make 
 himself an heir of, and get a title to God's kingdom, he sets aside 
 Christ ; he makes faith void : he is so far under the law, and the 
 PROMISE IS MADE OF NONK EFFbCT. Such have no regard to, nor 
 reliance upon it. It has no effect upon their faith and hope : it is 
 not their object. But this is the language of the heirs of faith, this 
 the confidence of their hope, this the joy of their souls ; and their 
 faith, and hope, and joy, are founded upon the immutable promise 
 of a faithful, unchangeable Jehovah : " In hope of eternal life, 
 which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.".... 
 Tit. i. 2. 
 
 Am I an heir of life thro* faith ? The gospel grace of God's dear Son, 
 
 To Jesus then I'll ever cleave. Brings to my soul a better hope. 
 
 And claim the precious words by faith, Than works of law which 1 have done. 
 To wretched sinners who believe. Hence Christ and Christ alone's my 
 
 prop. M. 
 
SOO OCTOBER 23. 
 
 Is any ikvig too hard for the Lord K... Gen. xviii. 14. 
 
 A CLERcyMAN, Went to read prayers on a working day. There 
 was but one person in the church, beside himself and the clerk: 
 on which he said to the clerk, as there is nobody else here, what 
 signifies my reading prayers? Sir, said the clerk, is not God present? 
 O, said the priest, I forgot God. Do not we too often the same ? 
 Is it not hence that our poor minds are exercised with doubts, fears 
 and distress. This question the Lord put to Sarah, when an unbe- 
 coming laugh of incredulity appeared, and this unbelieving speech 
 dropt from her, " Shall I of a surety bear a child who am old ?" 
 O the long-suffering kindness ! the condescending goodness of our 
 Lord ! He is Jesus the Saviour ; for instead of striking her dead at 
 his fiet, for her contempt of his word, he mildly reasons with her : 
 as though he had said, Sarah, look not at yourself; consult not flesh 
 and blood ; judge not according to nature, reason and the state of 
 things ; consider the promise, look at the promiser, the Lord God 
 omnipotent, " Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" O think of the 
 love of an incarnate God ! This question doubtless broke the strong 
 fetters of Sarah's unbelief, for it is thus recorded of her, " Through 
 faith, Sarah received strength to receive seed, and was delivered of 
 a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful, 
 who had promised. "....Heb. xi. 11. Here is a matter brought to 
 pass beyond the power and contrary to the laws of nature. But 
 who shall set bounds to the God of nature ? O soul, whenever thy 
 mind is puzzled with any mysterious truth of God's word, solve the 
 difficulty with thy Lord's own interrogation, " Is any thing too hard 
 for the Lord ?" it is quite sufficient to silence all thy carnal reason, 
 quell the risings of unbelief, and cause thee to leave all thy hard 
 matters and difficult concerns in thy Lord's hand : never forget 
 his everlasting love: never doubt his almighty power: say, thou, 
 hast a hard heart, a sea of corruptions, a storm of afflictions and 
 temptations, potent enemies, strong unbelief; yea, say, thou hast 
 death and hell to conflict with : yet say not that any or all of these 
 are too strong for thy Lord, too hard for him to support thee under 
 and save thee from. O then, in all thy straits, difficulties and trials, 
 never, never forget thy Lord's question, is any thing too hard for 
 the Lord ? " Remember the eternal God is thy refuge, and under- 
 neath thee are his everlasting arms. He will speak destruction to 
 thy foes, and salvation to thy soul."....Deut. xxxiii. 27. 
 
 The Lord we serve's omnipotent, Whene'er strong foes do us assault, 
 
 Let faith then trust his pow'r, And sin and lust do rage, 
 
 For that's engag'd by covenant, Lord keep our souls from ev'ry fault, 
 
 To keep us ev'ry hour. For us do thou engage. M. 
 
OCTOBER .2.4. 301 
 
 ThesalvafioH of the righteous is of the Lord, he is their 
 strength in the time of trouble. ...Psalm xxxvii. 39. 
 
 We may say of righteousness, as Job says of wisdom, " Where 
 shall righteousness be found ? And -where is the place of under- 
 standing? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it to be 
 found in the land of the living.".. ..Job xxviii. 12, 13. The patriarch 
 says, it is not in me. The prophet says, it is not in me. The apostle 
 says, i' is not in me. The Lord saith, " All flesh hath corrupted 
 his way. "....Gen. vi. 12. " There is none that doth good, no not 
 ONE. "....Psalm xiv. 3. Why then do the scriptures speak so much 
 of the righteous, if there are no such persons upon earth? Indeed 
 there are. This is a point of gfeat importance : the Lord settle it well 
 in your heart and mine. We are poor sinners in ourselves ; we have 
 no righteousness of our own ; yet, saith the Lord Jesus, the righ- 
 teous one, "Their righteousness is of me."....Isa. liv. 17. ^Ve are 
 made the righteousness of (iod in Christ....2 Cor. v. 21. When 
 we are taught this by the Spirit of truth, instead of looking into our- 
 selves for righteousness, we cry out in the joy of fnith, 1 have found 
 it: "In the Lord have I righteousness. "....Isa. xlv. 24. Then wc 
 have a living union with the Lord our righteousness, by faith : 
 being perfectly righteous in him, we have righteous hopes, fears, 
 desires, a righteous walk, and righteous expectations ; for we know, 
 our salvation is of the Lord. The Spirit of truth does not leave us 
 to the unrighteous notions of salvation on any condition of our own 
 works, duties and performances, cither in whole or in part ; but he 
 shews us such matchless glory in our Lord's one everlasting righ- 
 teousness, that it puts us at once both out of conceit with our own 
 filthy rags and of any dependance on them for salvation : the Lord 
 increase our faith in this righteousness: Lord quicken our love to 
 thee for making us righteous. So neither are we left to live in sin 
 and walk in sin : but though thus righteous, yet sin is in us, there- 
 fore we have our troubles : many are the afflictions of the righteous. 
 Are we in trouble about the number of our enemies, the greatness 
 of our sins and corruptions, the weakness of our graces, the strength 
 of our temptations, a sense of desertion, the want of comfort, peace 
 and joy from the Lord ? These are righteous troubles. The righ- 
 teous Lord is our strength to support under them ; he has power to 
 remove them : he neither wants strength of love nor ability of 
 power to save us from them ; for the Lord delivereth the " righ- 
 teous out of all his troubles. "....Psalm xxxiv. 18. 
 
 Salvation is a joyful theme, Lord, 'tis thine own most glorious 
 
 To sinners lost aad poor, O let us feel its pow'r. M. [scheme. 
 
30y OCTOBER 25. 
 
 The son of man came not to he ministered unto, but to 
 minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.,.. 
 Matt. XX. 28. 
 Most gracious words to me, who am a poor sinner and have 
 nodung to bring to Christ but an empty hand to receive : most pre- 
 cious* rarisom fur ME, who have the sentence of death in myself. 
 May'fairh be high and self jow to-night ! The poor disciples were 
 now wrangling' about precedence and supremacy. What was the 
 consequence ? They were moved with indignation : they, strangely 
 forgot the end of Christ's coming and the nature of his kingdom. 
 Christ knows we are poor as beggars, yet proud as devils : the very 
 same spirit works in us all, as it did in them. Lord grant that the 
 evil which occasioned these words may be made a blessing to us. 
 Consider, 1st. Our proud notion of ministering to Christ. Some 
 indeed did minister to Christ of their substance. ...Luke viii. 2. But 
 this was of natural things. Though empty of all good, and full of 
 all evil, yet we vainly think we can minister something to Christ of 
 our spiritual substance which shall be available towards our salva- 
 tion. It is dreadful to have both pride and poverty 1 There is no 
 character so despicable: yet it is ours. But, 2d. O wondrous love ! 
 Christ came to minister to our wants and quell our pride ; he wants 
 nothing from us ; he bestows all upon us ; he gives us to see our 
 poverty ; to hide pride from our eyes : he shews us our misery, 
 that pride may not destroy us ; he makes us feel our extreme indi- 
 gence, that he may supply us out of his fulness ; he ministers the 
 grace of conviction of our lost and helpless state in ourselves, that 
 he may comfort us in the conversion of our souls to himself. But 
 do I minister nothing to Christ for salvation ? Poor sinner, thou 
 hast nothing to minister but a sinful body and a sin-sick soul. Is it 
 so ? Art thou sensible of it and crying to him under it ? Then 
 Christ hath indeed ministered his Spirit to thee. Here is glorious 
 comfort for thee. 3d. " Christ came to give his life a ransom for 
 many, even for all that the Father gave him."... .John vi. 39. All 
 such are known of God, known by Christ, and they too may know 
 that they are of the blessed number of Christ's ransomed ones. 
 How ? more surely than if they heard a voice from heaven telling 
 them so: " They shall come unto me." There is the most sure 
 evidence: to come, sensible that we have nothing to minister to 
 Christ, and to take the ransom of his death as our finished salvation, 
 this is the faith of God's elect. All such were gi\en to Christ, and 
 shall eternally reign with him.... Rom. v. 17. 
 
 To minister to our distress Thus came the Lord our righteousness, 
 
 And save our souls from hell: With love unspeakable. M. 
 
OCTOBER 26. 303 
 
 Take heed and bexvai'c of covetoimifss....Luke xli. 15. 
 
 It is said, if a person seeks for the philosopher's stone (which 
 turns all metals into gold) with a covetous desire to be rich, he may 
 be sure not to find it. We are sure that precious jewel, content, is 
 not to be found in a covetous heart. Let philosophers and moralists 
 reason ever so persuasively against the evil of covctousness, yet the 
 love of money will rise superior to all. What mighty charms is 
 there in gold ! But the voice of our btloved here speaks : his words 
 are spirit and life. Hear then, O disciple ; " Take heed and be- 
 ware." Consider, 1st. This admonition of thy Lord's. It is re- 
 doubled : "Take heed; beware." Just as the loving parent, 
 seeing his dear child running into the jaws of danger, cries out with 
 vehemence, take care 1 take care 1 Fix this in thy mind ; there is 
 great, very great danger here : our Lord sees it : his love speaks 
 with the utmost earnestness, that we may avoid covelousness. 2d. 
 What is covetousness ? One gave a good definition of it. Being 
 persuaded to leave off business, as he had got enough, replied, What 
 is enough ? It is a little more than a man has. Consider, od. The 
 evil of covetousness. That insatiable desire prevents present con- 
 tent, destroys thankfulness, yea, and keeps the enjoyment of Christ 
 out of the heart. Can a covetous mind be happy in God ? No ; no 
 more than Dives could be happy under the dreadful circumstances 
 of Lazarus, full of hunger and sores. Will any one ask, What harm 
 is there in the love of riches, and coveting of them ? Paul expressly 
 answers, " A covetous man is an idolater. "....Eph. v. 5. Is there 
 no harm in that ? Our Lord says, " Seek ye first (principally, chicfiy, 
 and above all other things) the kingdom of God, and all these things 
 shall be added. "....Matt. vi. 33. Is there no harm in reversing 
 Christ's command ; putting a slight upon his kingdom of love, 
 righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ; so as to prefer rich- 
 es before it ? Soul, consider, What is your piofession ? Are the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ enough to satisfy your mind, or are they 
 not ? Can enjoyment of fellowship with Christ make your heart 
 happy or not ? Have you faith to believe this, or have you not ? 
 Does Christ here caution you to no purpose, where there is no dan- 
 ger ? O, lay this to heart : cry to the Lend. Covetousness is na- 
 tural to us : lively faith in Christ will kill it ; for, it will enable the 
 soul to say with Paul, " I am full and abound."....Phil. iv. 18. 
 
 Is Christ my portion and my store, See, see the thousands who now run 
 
 And can't 1 be content ? In full pursuit of gold. 
 
 Beware my soul to covet more, They gave up Christ, and very soon 
 
 Lest Christ from thee be rent. For gold their God they sold. M. 
 
304 OCTOBER 27. 
 
 And Israel said unto Joseph, now lei me die, since I have 
 seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.... Gen. xlvi.30. 
 
 Strange request ! What, just come to the sight and embrace 
 of thy lons^ lost son, and yet want to leave him at the very first in- 
 terview ? One would have thought the language of Jacob should 
 have been, Happy man 1 I not only see my beloved son, but also see 
 him governor over all the land : well, 1 hope I shall live long to en- 
 joy his riches and grandeur. But no : the good man had lived long 
 enough to make an estimate of the uncertainties of life ; to know 
 the evil of days, the vicissitudes of time, and how soon the day of 
 brilliant joy might be changed into an eclipse of gloom and sadness. 
 The sight of his son was the summit of his wishes : that granted, 
 he sought no more ; he wished to be at home with his Lord. Happy 
 christian, thus to set loose to all creature enjoyments, even when 
 there is the highest flood of them, then to have one's mind go out 
 in longings after the heavenly world ; this bespeaks the spirituality 
 of the affections. Many have manfully withstood the frowns of the 
 world ; but its smiles have caressed, inchanted and hugged them to 
 death. To choose death, to be with Jesus, when all things around 
 are inviting and engaging, shews that Christ has the supreme affec- 
 tions of our hearts. Here see the nature of christian faith. 1st. 
 It confesseth that Christ is come in the flesh : that though he was 
 dead, yet he is alive for evermore, and hath the keys of hell and 
 death : and that he has opened the kingdom of heaven to all be- 
 lievers. Therefore, id. As truly as Israel rejoiced to see his be- 
 loved son, and could depart in peace, so the believer rejoices at the 
 sight of Christ by faith. A living Christ is the glory of a believer's 
 soul. He can die easy, peaceful and comfortable, viewing the death 
 of Christ for his sins and the life of Christ for his justification, and 
 the intercession of Christ, prevailing for his eternal glorification. 
 And this faith is somewhat more than a notion in the head, for, 
 Sd. It brings victory into the heart. " For this is the victory that 
 ©vercbmeth the world, even our faith: Who is he that overcom- 
 eth the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of Cod?" 
 ....1 John V. 4, 5. It is impossible to overcome the world any other 
 way than by seeing greater glory and happiness in the Son of God 
 than this world can bestow : but by faith we do ; therefore we ex- 
 change shadows for substance, bawbles for jewels. O, rest not in a 
 dead faith, which brings not the glory of Christ into the heart and 
 brings no glory to Christ in the life. 
 
 Lord, having seen by faith thy face O may I long thee to embrace, 
 And felt thy precious love : la thy bright ccurt above. M. 
 
OCTOBER 28. 305 
 
 Lest Israel vaunt themselves against vie, saying. Mine 
 own hand hath saved me....Judg. vii. 2. 
 
 Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon : he knows what is in 
 man : he sees the pride of the human heart, how prone we all are 
 to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of his own glory. 
 Gideon's army of two and thirty thousand is brought down to three 
 hundred : by this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain 
 the victory over the Midianites. The Lord's wisdom in this was, 
 " lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, mine own hand hath 
 saved me." But I have not transcribed the text right. There are 
 two little words, of great import, which I have omitted. Mind them, 
 O christian : against me. Now remember, whenever thou dost 
 boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, 
 duties, conditions and performances in order to be saved, thou art 
 then as it were two and thirty thousand strong : thou vauntest thy- 
 self AGAINST THE LoRD: thou art glorying in thine own arm of 
 might and power to save thyself, in some measure or degree. Thou 
 art trusting to thy works, to save thee in whole or in part. Be as- 
 sured thy Lord will bring thee down, and weaken thy numbers, that 
 he may have the sole glory of thy heart for saving thee. 1st. The 
 Lord proclaimed, that all who were afraid should depart. Two 
 and twenty thousand returned. So he will proclaim the terrors of 
 his just, holy and righteous law in thine ears, and ca\ise thy heart 
 to tremble. Then shalt thou get rid of a deal of thy self-righteous 
 confidence : it shall depart from thee. 2d. He brought the people 
 down to the water and tried them by lapping. Here also he reduced 
 their numbers, to prevent their vaunting. So he will try thee by 
 lapping the waters of affliction. Here he will cut off the strength 
 of thy vain confidence and prevent thy vaunting thyself against 
 him. Thus when thou findest the commandment come with power, 
 and sin revive, then wilt thou die to self-confidence and glory alone 
 in the Lord. When the pruning-knife of affliction has cut off thy 
 luxurious branches of pride and vain glory, then wilt thou say in 
 deep humility, wretch that I am, that I should trust in myself and 
 depart in heart from the Lord. I thank thee, my dear Saviour, for 
 all the pains thou takest with my proud nature, to bring me to glory 
 only in thee, and to say, "In God is my salvation and my glory.".... 
 Psalm Ixii. 7. 
 
 I'll trust my Saviour's work alone Tho' poor, alas! I'm full of pride. 
 
 To justify and save : And prone to vaunt of pow'r : 
 
 No grace in me, nor work; I've done, Lord, hnmble, that I may confide 
 The smallest share can have. In ihee alone each hour. M. 
 
 Vol. IL P p 
 
306 OCTOBER 29. 
 
 IVisdimi is justified of all her children.... Luke vii. o5. . 
 
 "O coui.D I but know and be sure I am a cbild of God, I should 
 be quite happy : the want of this makes me very uncomfortable." 
 Such is the language of many a doubting believer. Well, soul, 
 here is a mark laid down : by it judge of thyself and know thy state. 
 Art thou a child of wisdom? If so, thou wilt justify wisdom. But 
 who is wisdom? What is it to justify wisdom ? 1st. Thy Saviour 
 is "the wisdom of God."... .1 Cor. i. 21. He is not only wise to 
 ■win souls, but is wisdom itself : he makes all his children wise unto 
 salvation, by knowing him, " of God, made unto them wisdom.".... 
 1 Cor. 1. 30. Wisdom is here arraigned and his ways censured by 
 the calumny of fools : he is condemned as a licentious person, a sot, 
 an epicure, a jovial friend and companion of wicked sinners. If you 
 are a child of wisdom, you will also meet with the same treatment 
 from a carnal world and self-righteous men. If you dare openly 
 confess salvation by the Son of God alone ; free and full justification 
 unto eternal life, by his blood and righteousness only, without 
 your works contributing thereto, either in whole or in part, you will 
 be condemned as a licentious Antinomian. Both the profane and 
 self-righteous will unite to proclaim you a friend to sin and an enemy 
 to all good works. Why ? Because their carnal hearts were never 
 under the constraints of Christ's love: their licentious thoughts were 
 never brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ: therefore their 
 lips. proclaims their ignorance, while they are opened against his 
 truths. Now you are called to justify wisdom, who has justified 
 you. 2d. How is this to be done? 1st. Hold fast wisdom's truths in 
 your hearts, as your chief glory, in opposition to all gain-sayers. So, 
 2d. From a warm and lively sense of comfort by them, your lives will 
 justify their holy influence : you will loudly proclaim to all the world, 
 that though you dare not attempt a single act to justify your soul be- 
 fore God, yet you dare not continue in sin, because grace hath 
 abounded. Your holy faith forbids it: the heavenly love of Christ 
 animates to all holy obedience: your glorious hope in Christ makes 
 you ready and obedient unto every good word and work ; for the 
 grace of God which bringeth salvation to the soul, teaches all the 
 children of wisdom " to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and 
 to live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world.".... 
 Tit. ii. 12. Thus we know we have the faith of God's elect, and 
 are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus....Gal. iii. 26. 
 
 I know my sonl is made alive For sin I hate, against it strive, 
 
 By Jesu'i. mighty pow'r, And pray to love Christ more. M. 
 
OCTOBER 30. 307 
 
 Giving all diligence to add to your faith, S(c. . ..2 Pet. i. 5. 
 
 Here is the christian's work : all diligence is required in it. 
 O believer, be assured (the Lord impress it upon your heart and 
 mine) there is no being a lively, comfortable disciple, without it. 
 Bey/are you do not add to your faith licentious notions and Anlino- 
 njii^n sloth, instead of christian virtues, holy tempers, and heavenly 
 affections, which adorn our profession and glorify our Saviour. Ever 
 remember, you are called to honor Christ by your life on earth, as 
 well as to be saved by, and enjoy him in heaven. By faith we re- 
 ceive Christ, rest upon him, and look to him alone for justification 
 unto eternal life. But a lively faith will not leave us barren and 
 unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there is 
 not an habitual disposition of soul, to add to our faith virtue, know- 
 ledge, patience, godliness, £cc. we should examine and see to it, lest 
 instead of Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, we have only a no- 
 tion which floats in our heads. If so, this M'ill only make us idle 
 talkers, but not diligent workers and holy walkers. That we are 
 poor sinners, justified and saved by Christ only, is a truth which is 
 ever to be held fast in the conscience. We can add nothing to 
 Christ's work. To attempt to do any thing towards our own justifi- 
 cation before God, is the basest act of unbelief. But faith is the 
 queen of graces ; she lives upon the King of saints ; she will have 
 a noble retinue to attend her. Let us never desire to get beyond 
 this blessed rule of addition : let us never substhact from it: 
 let us give all diligence to multiply more and more. Are we got 
 into the rule of three ? Do we know the love of the Three One 
 Cod ? The everlasting love of God the Father : the redeeming love 
 of God the Son : the sanctifying love of God the Holy Ghost i Still 
 Ave must never leave the rule of addition : add to your faith ; but 
 go on to all diligence in practice. Christ hath taught it : faith 
 enjoins it : love constrains to it : Christ's honor and glory demand 
 it. But beware of getting into fraction, as though any thing you 
 do gives you a title to glory. But see hence, the glory and spiritual- 
 ity of the gospel, and the reason why the belief of it is called, " our 
 most holy faith.".. .Jude, 20. We are called by the faith of Christ 
 to glorify Ciod, by adding an obedient life to our most holy faith : 
 this is our way in Christ ; walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your 
 souls from Christ.. .Jer. vi. 16. 
 
 Add to rny faith ! the sluggard smiles : Dear Lord, stir up to diligence, 
 " I want no more than Christ :" To walk in all thy ways : 
 
 But him you want, for sin beguiles, O, arm my soul wich vigilance. 
 
 His truth you do resist. Which thou hast sav'ii by grace. M. 
 
SOS OCTOBER 31. 
 
 He that lacketh these things is blind, ajid cannot see far 
 of, and hath forgotten that he ivas pinged from his 
 old sins.... 2 Pet. \. 9. 
 
 It is hard to say whether Peter here draws the character of a 
 mere formal piofessor, or of one who has really tasted that the Lord 
 is gracious, and has awfully backslidden : be it which it may, it 
 holds forth a solemn lesson of instruction to our souls. We may 
 hence lay this down as a sacred truth, that whatever profession a 
 man makes of faith in Christ, justification by him, hope of salvation 
 through him ; yet if he is destitute of the graces of the Spirit and the 
 fruits of righteousness in his life, he is blind to the glorious end of 
 the gospel of peace, and is a stranger to the purifying grace and par- 
 doning love of Christ to his soul. Think of this. Pardoning love, 
 purifying grace, and sanctifying influences are inseparable. Where 
 there is the root of grace, there will be the fruits of righteousness : 
 this is as natural as for any cause to produce its effects. But may 
 not these words be accommodated to some whom we have good rea- 
 son to hope arc the children of God, but are sadly backslidden from 
 him? Do we not see awful instances around us? 1st. He who 
 lacketh these things, as virtue, knowledge, temperance, godliness, 
 £cc. (not totally, for there may be a partial lack of them) has sadly 
 departed from the stedfastness of faith and that degree of liveliness 
 he once had, has left his first love, and has lost the sweet savour of 
 Christ from his heart : hence there is a lack, in not abounding in 
 these things. There may be true faith and yet somewhat lacking 
 init.... 1 Thess. iii. 10. But such a soul is in sorrow, concern and 
 distress about it : so the life of grace manifests that it is not quite ex- 
 tinct. 2d. He is blind. Not totally so, for he may see, but not far 
 off: he only sees himself and his own misery and unprofitableness : 
 this causes him to weep and bewail himself. But he cannot sec, he 
 does not enjoy the love of Christ, and the SAveet peace of God : his 
 sight is dimmed and his comforts marred. 3d. He hath forgotten 
 that he was purged from his old sins : he has lost the sense of par- 
 don in the blood of Christ : though he remembers there is such a 
 thing, yet he has lost the comfort of it ; it is to him, as though it 
 had never been. Satan has obtained the advantage. So false pro- 
 phets seek *' to cause my people to forget my name, saith the Lord." 
 ....Jer. xxiii. 27. That is, the pardon and comfort of his name. 
 Is not this an awful state ? O how much to be deplored I how greatly 
 to be deprecated I 
 
 Ten thousand snares our souls surround With watchful care we shou'd abound, 
 To blind and to deceive, Lest wc God's Spirit grieve. 
 
NOVEMBER 1. S09 
 
 So an entrance shall be ministered inito you nbundanfli/, 
 into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 ....2 Pet. i. II. 
 
 Our lastmeditatiou was gloom and sadness : here the sun of 
 comfort arises and sheds splendor, glory and joy upon us. O that 
 v/e may this night enter by faith into the joy of our Lord. Come, 
 christian, it seems you and I must tarry a little longer on earth, ab- 
 sent from our Lord. How shall we employ ourselves ? In studying 
 the word of his grace ; in being diligent in the use of means ; in 
 exercising ourselves unto godliness. What then ? O blessed as- 
 surance ! So an entrance sliall be ministered unto us abundantly. 
 When ? Both in life and in death. 1st. In life. We shall find a 
 free and open door into the kingdom of Christ's grace, love and 
 peace, even now : we shall have joy in the Holy Ghost and the 
 peace of God wliich passelh all understanding in our hearts. Thus 
 with the full sail of assurance and the rapid tide of heavenly conso- 
 lation, we shall sweetly and swiftly sail the voyage of life. All is 
 enjoyed in being diligent in the ways of Christ. Diligence ! Work- 
 ing ! Labouring! 8cc. Why, say some, all this is the very dregs of 
 legality. Ay, so it would, if we had not the faith of Christ in our 
 hearts, love to Christ in our souls, and the glory of Christ, who has 
 fully justified and eternally saved us, in our view. Soul, thus press 
 on : mind not the satanic grin nor licentious sneer of carnal pro- 
 fessors, nor of legal gospellers. Legal to live and labor in the king- 
 dom of love ? O fools 1 say, did you ever expect to enter your Lord's 
 kingdom any other way than by Christ, who is the door ? Do you 
 expect to enjoy the comforts of his love and the assurance of his 
 favor in a walk and way contrary to his word and will ? Are we not 
 to walk in Christ, aboumsling in the work of faith, the patience of 
 hope, and the labour of love ? Diligence of soul to enjoy his presence 
 and to be conformed to his image is our delight below. To have 
 every holy temper and heavenly disposition from Christ, puts the 
 soul into a right frame to enjoy him : this is to have a constant 
 and an abundant entrance ministered to us, into the kingdom of 
 Christ. So living and abiding in his kingdom of grace and lore, our 
 souls grow dead to the kingdom of this world. We rejoice to 
 think, 2d. Of an entrance into Christ's kingdom being abundantly 
 administered to us at death. Fellowship with Christ, and diligence 
 in his ways, makes us think of death with pleasure and familiarizes 
 it to our minds with joy. By faith we see heaven open to admit us, 
 God our Father with open arms to embrace us, Christ to welcome 
 us, and the Spirit to enable us to sing victory in death. 
 
310 NOVEMBER 2. 
 
 Death is yours.... \ Co?-, iii. 22. 
 
 ''O DEATH, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man who 
 is at rest in his possessions ; unto the man who hath nothing to vex 
 him ; and who hath prosperity in all things 1" O death, how sweet 
 is the remembrance of thee to a man who is alive to God, dead to the 
 ■world: who longs to be absent from the body and present with the 
 Lord ; to see the glory of Jesus, and to reign eternally with him ! 
 Christian, here is a precious legacy left thee by the Lord : a co- 
 venant-gift from the God of thy salvation : " Death is yours." He 
 is your conquered enemy: your faithful friend. 1st. Your con- 
 quered enemy : you need not fear him : he has neither strength 
 nor sting. Christ, the victorious captain of your salvation, has dis- 
 armed him of both : he can neither destroy nor wound your soul : 
 yea, " he hath abolished death.". ...2 Tim. i. 10. There is no sub- 
 stance in him ; he is changed into a shadow. It is not the enemy 
 death which seizes a believer, but the shadow, or emblem of it, 
 SLEEP. Weary soul, tired out with the burden of sin, lusts, cor- 
 ruptions, afflictions, accusations, temptations, Sec. Is sleep an enemy 
 to you ? Do you dread sleep ? Are you afraid of rest ? What ! feat 
 to fall asleep in Jesus, to awake in his presence, to be satisfied with 
 perfect likeness to him and eternally enjoy him ? O fools, and slow 
 of heart to believe the victory of Christ over death 1 And thou too, 
 O my soul, take the rebuke to thyself, and be ashamed of thy folly. 
 But I am not afraid of death, but of dying ! Why afraid of sleeping ? 
 O ! for the insupportable pains of the body in that hour. Who 
 lold you they are insupportable ? How many have sweetly sung, 
 VICTORY IN DEATH ? O, says onc, is this dying ? O, it is svreet, it is 
 pleasant : " Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of 
 death, thou shalt be with me." That is the claim of faith, upon the 
 warrant of the Lord ; '• When thou passest through the waters I 
 WILL be with thee."....Isa. xliii. 2. The presence of the Saviour 
 will beguile all thy pains and fill thy soul with comfort. For, 2d. 
 Death is thy ftiithful friend. Hast thou not found sleep so to thy 
 weary body? Just so, and no more, is death to thy weary soul : it 
 will at once deliver thee from all thy burdens and sorrows, and in- 
 troduce thee into joys unspeakable and full of glory. Death, is that, 
 and no more to the soul, than what God calls it in his word, and 
 faith makes it to the heart. If you do really and truly believe that 
 death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ : if you firmly believe 
 his precious blood has atoned for sin, and his righteous life has ful- 
 filled the law, you may undauntedly sing, " O death, where is thy 
 stin-.' ? O t^;ave, where is thy victory r" 
 
NOVEMBER S. . - Sli 
 
 If thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.... 
 Exod. XX. 25. 
 
 This chapter abounds with legal terror. Here the glorious 
 Jehovah is giving the law with thunderings and lightnings, and the 
 noise of a trumpet.. ..the mountain smoking.. ..poor sinners trembling 
 and fleeing, saying, " Let not God speak with us, lest we die." 
 Most awfully tremendous 1 Well might Paul call it, " the minis- 
 tration of death and condemnation."....2 Cor. iii. 7, 9. But blessed, 
 blessed be God, it contains precious gospel-grace to law-condemned 
 sinners. Hear : rejoice and say, let God speak and we live ; for 
 here is an altar commanded : God is accessible to us : " An altar 
 of earth thou shalt make unto me." Here is gospel-grace. That 
 beloved Son typified, who was made like unto us, and appeared in 
 our F.ARTHLY uature. Thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings and thy 
 peace-offerings upon it : " Our God is a consuming fire."....Heb. 
 xii. 29. Yet, " wc have an altar.". ...Heb. xiii. 10. Christ is both 
 our altar, our burnt-sacrifice, our peace-offering, and our priest : in 
 him, God is' ever accessible to us, and we ever acceptable to him. 
 We lay^hold of the horns of this altar : this is our refuge from a 
 fiery- law and inexorable justice : "There, says God, I will come 
 unto thee and bless thee. Blessed be our God and Father, who hath 
 blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.".. ..Eph. i. 3. " If 
 thou Avilt make me an altar of stone, it shall not be hewn." See 
 again, the dear Mediator shadowed forth : " That stone which was 
 cut out of the mountain without hands. "....Dan. ii. 45. O how sweet 
 to see our beloved in every line of revelation ! Well might he say, 
 *' Search the scriptures : they testify of me.".. ..John v. 39. " If 
 thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." What can this 
 mean ? To forbid thy pride and arrogance. Though thou art a law- 
 condemned sinner, yet pride and vanity work in thee. We are 
 prone to think by our works, our art, our device, we are to add 
 something of our own to this altar, to render our souls acceptable to 
 God : but this is to pollute the altar, Christ Jesus. This, the foolish, 
 bewitched Galatians did. So some are said to crucify the Lord 
 afresh. O beware of this spiritual pollution of the blessed altar, 
 Christ. Know, we are perfectly and everlastingly accepted in him, 
 without any work of our ov.'n. Believe this : obey God : glorify 
 him. Does the law convince of sin and cut us off from all hope in 
 ourselves ? This blessed altar is of itself all-sufficient to fill us with 
 all hope, joy and peace ; for this typifies that new and living way 
 which Christ hath consecrated for us, through the vail of his flesh, 
 to draw nigh unto God.. ..Heb. x. 20. 
 
312 NOVEMBER 4. 
 
 JFe believe and are sure. ...John vi. 69. 
 
 IIf.p.k is both faith and assurance. I Mish to tlie Lord I had 
 them, is the language of many a doubting heart, while they have 
 both this very faith and assurance. This assurance is of the essence 
 of faith ; without it faith has no existence. Consider, 1st. The 
 nature of this faith and assurance : " We believe and are sure." 
 Of what ? That their names were w ritten in heaven, that they were 
 sure they were the elect of God I No : but says Peter to our Lord, 
 *' We believe, and are sure, that thou art Christ the Son of the liv- 
 ing God, and that thou hast the words of eternal life." Their minds 
 were as sure of this truth as of their existence ; so must ours at all 
 limes and under all circumstances. But is this faith and assurance ? 
 Then, blessed be God, I am a partaker of both : I do believe, I am 
 sure that Christ is the Son of God, and that he, and he alone has the 
 words of eternal life ; but I want to be sure of my own interest in 
 the Son of God. Bless the Spirit for revealing Christ in the word, 
 and revealing him in thine heart according to the word. Go on with 
 thy present blessed faith and assurance. It will make Christ pre-- 
 cious to thy soul : it will cause thy soul to cleave to him : thou wilt 
 say, " None but Christ." In due time the Spirit will fully manifest 
 thy interest in his love and salvation. 2d. Consider the blessedness 
 of this faith and assurance : it was for want of this " many disciples 
 went back and walked no more with Christ.".. ..John vi. 66. It is 
 by believing and being sure that Christ is the Son of God, and that 
 he has the words of eternal life, that causes any poor sinner to fol- 
 low him, to cleave to him, to call upon him, to hope in him, and to 
 expect all salvation from him. Little as some may think of this 
 faith, low as some may rate this assurance, yet our Lord honors it : 
 he pronounces Peter blessed for it : he does not say, I believe and 
 am sure that I am a child of God, and that my sins are forgiven ; 
 but, " Thou art Christ the Son of the living God." What 
 snys our Lord to this ? " Blessed art thou : for flesh and blood 
 hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." 
 ....Matt. xvi. \7. Rejoice, O believing soul ! thou hast a revelation 
 from God thy heavenly Father, even whilst thou art doubting. All 
 thy salvation depends on this truth ; all thy comfort results from be- 
 lief and assurance of it. The more steadily and confidently you be- 
 lieve and hold this truth in your conscience, the more solid peace, 
 holy comfort and heavenly joy. 
 
 My soul, beware, despise not faith, It honors God, trusts what hesaith, 
 It is a precious gift : Tho' comfort comes not swift. M. 
 
NOVEMBER 5. 313 
 
 Therefore I will look unto the Lord : I zvill ivaitfor the 
 God of my salvation : My God will hear me. . . . JMicah 
 vii. 7. 
 Here is a soul crying out of the very ^vorst of foes : " A man's 
 enemies are the men of his own house." Under such experience, 
 behold and imitate the conduct before us. Here are two acts of the 
 mind, and the cry of faith. 1st. I will look. The Lord is the 
 object looked to. Blessed be the Spirit, he opens our eyes to see 
 him, and our hearts to believe his love to us and care for us : then 
 we know the voice of Christ and obey it. He says, " Look unto me, 
 and be ye saved.".... Isa. xlv. 22. Whenever distressed with ene- 
 mies from within or without, sin, satan or the world, here is our war- 
 rant, to look unto the Lord. He assures us of salvation from them. 
 We. shall find and feel these enemies to the end of life. Therefore, 
 looking unto the Lord, is to be the constant work of life. O the 
 special mercy to have such a Lord to look to ! Shame to us that Ave 
 look no more to him : happy for us when we do look to him only. 
 •Wevare sure of comfort from him, and safety by him from all the 
 .J)ibtver, malice, and fraud of every enemy. But I see enemies beset 
 She : I am not saved from them : I grow impatient ; unbelief pre- 
 vails: doubts and fears arise. Here is the remedy: 2d. " I wil 
 wait." Time will prove God's truth, satan's lying suggestions, and 
 the groundless suspicions of my own heart. " He who believeth 
 shall not make haste.".. ..Isa. xxviii. 16. It is, "the God of my 
 salvation," I wait upon, and wait for : " My times are in his hands." 
 ....Psalm xxxi. 15. Every promise has its season for accomplish- 
 ment, every providence its hour, every vision its appointed time t 
 " To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under 
 the heaven. "....Eccles. iii. 1. O, this waiting faith honors the Lord's 
 word greatly : it has the Lord's word for its support. The Lord 
 honors it. Behold his absolute, precious promise to it : " They that 
 wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.". ...Isa. xl. 31. But 
 this was not silent looking, and dumb waiting. For, 3d. Here is 
 the cry of faith : " My God will hear me." O the preciousness of 
 faith 1 It claims the Lord, and makes a special appropriation of him: 
 MY God, vile and sinful as I am ; wretched and miserable as sin has 
 made me ; however beset and distressed with foes within and ene- 
 mies without, yet, O my soul, thou hast a covenant God in Christ to 
 look to, wait for, and call upon : he will hear me, I am sure of it ; 
 for he put it into my heart to cry to him. 
 
 To look, and wait upon the Lord, For God his presence w'll afford. 
 Our priv'le^e is most sweet, And will with comforts greet. M. 
 
 Vol. H. Qq 
 
314 NOVEMBER 6. 
 
 Thekiugdom of God is not meat and drink, hut righteous- 
 ness, peace and joy in the Hohj Ghost. ...Roin. xiv. 17. 
 
 How much did our dear Saviour bear, what pains did he take 
 with his first disciples to teach them the nature of his kingdom ? 
 Their notions were carnal and worldly : his kingdom spiritual and 
 heavenly. We are just like them. Blessed be his name, the Lord 
 is the same in patience and love to teach us also. There ever was, 
 now is, and ever will be a cry, Lo, here is Christ with us : lo, 
 there is the kingdom of God : it consists in this external mode, that 
 outward rite, ceremony or institution. Just like those ministers, the 
 dry-vines of this day, every subject they pre<tch upon is to save you. 
 If they preach what is called a charity sermon, even the gift of mo- 
 ney is to entitle you to God's kingdom. But what says our Lord ? 
 Behold, take special notice, "The kingdom of God is within you." 
 ....Luke xvii. 21. It consists in nothing carnal, nor external. Its 
 blessings are inward, spiritual, and substantial. 1st. Righteousness. 
 That the devil robbed us of. Glory to Christ, he restores righteous- 
 ness to us ; he gives us a better righteousness than we lost : we 
 lost but a creature's righteousness, but we gain the righteousnesaBB 
 God's only Son ; the righteousness of God and man in one CbrSF" 
 Satan ruined us by sin, Christ saves us by righteousness. The 
 kingdom of God is established in righteousness upon the ruins of 
 sin and satan : the subjects of this kingdom are all righteous. .r.Isa. 
 lx.-21. As we possess this kingdom in our hearts by faith, so 
 Christ's righteousness is called the righteousness of faith ; for we 
 receive it by faith ; we do nothing to work it out, it is the gift of 
 righteousness.. ..Rom. v. 17. O how gloriously are our souls ar- 
 rayed in the righteousness of the King of saints. Let us glory of 
 this righteousness only ; for the more we believe of it in our hearts, 
 tl\e more we live in the spirit and temper of righteousness in our 
 lives. 2d. Peace. We were once at peace with the world, the 
 flesh and the devil, and at war with God ; now we are in his righ- 
 teous kingdom and righteous in his Son ; we are at peace with God 
 and at war with tKem : " The elfects of this righteousness is peace 
 and quietness, and assurance for ever."....Isa. xxxii. 17. od. Jor 
 jN THE Holy Ghost. Being righteous in Jesus and at peace with 
 God, the Holy (ihost gives us the joy of this ; he teaches us to joy in 
 all Jesus is to us and has done for us ; yea, " he fills us with all joy 
 and peace IN believing. ".... Rom. xv. 13. Wherefore, we receiv- 
 ing a kingdom which cannot be moved, " Let us have grace where- 
 by we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." 
 ....Htb. xii. 28. 
 
NOVEMBER 7. 315 
 
 Mij soulfolloiccth Jiard after thee: thy right hand iip- 
 holdeth 7nc....Ps(dm Ixiii. 8. 
 
 David was no Arminian : he ascribes no glory to nature's 
 power and free-will. Free-grace P;vul says, " I laboured more abun- 
 dantly than they all." Btit he immediately corrects himself: " Yet 
 not I, but the grace of God which was with me."....l Cor. xv. 10. 
 So if David's soul followed hard after God, he gives grace the lienor of 
 it: " Thy right hand upholds mc." This is the way both to improve 
 and enjoy lively frames of soul, to see and acknowledge the Lord's 
 hand to be the cause of them. O, it is delightful when the soul 
 follows hard after God. For, 1st. It implies such a discovery of 
 the love and grace of the Lord, that the mind is fixed upon him : 
 the heart goes out after him, and the affections cleave unto him. 
 the language is, " What is tliere upon earth that I can desire beside 
 thee ?" O, says the soul, " I am in his eyes, as one that found 
 favor.".. .. Song viii. 10. Then, 2d. Every thing appears mean and 
 contemptible in comparison of the Lord : the world, with all its 
 riches, honors and pleasures, has lost its charms : sin is abhorred : 
 satan is defied : the flesh is denied : the smiles and frowns of car- 
 nal men set at nouglil : nothing but the enjoyment of the Lord's 
 love and presence is prized. Therefore, 3d. There is a diligent 
 attendance on the means of grace, a conscientious discharge of 
 duty, a delight in the exercise of every grace, believing in the Lord, 
 looking to him, hoping in him, calling on him, loving, fearing, 
 serving, and adoring him. O, says the soul, I will go under the 
 word, who knows but I may get a word more of the love, peace 
 and salvation of my Lord Christ ? I will go to his table that he may 
 meet, and bless, and kiss my soul : " Let him kiss me with the kisses 
 of his mouth, for thy love is better than Avine."....Song i. 2. This 
 is living indeed ; living like one's self, as beloved of the Lord, follow- 
 ing hard after him, reaching forward to him, " pressing towards the 
 mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.".... 
 Phil. ili. 14. O, let us look more "to the right hand of the Lord. 
 It hath the pre-eminence. The right hand of the Lord bringcth 
 mighty things to pass." O, think on Stephen's vision: " He saw 
 Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "....Acts vii. 55. We have 
 the very same vrsion by faith and the very same object to look unto 
 every hour of life and every step of our journey: this brings sup- 
 port to our minds and joy to our hearts : " we endure seeing him who 
 is invisible.".. ..Heb. xi. 27. 
 
316 NOVEMBER 8. 
 
 Then said one unto him, Lord arc titer e few that be 
 saved?.. ..I.uke xiii. 23. 
 
 Peter's fervent prayer, " Lord save or I perish," was iniich 
 better than this curious question : it was an unprofitable one. Sup- 
 pose our Lord had given a direct answer to it, assured him there 
 are but few thai will be saved, and told him the exact number, 
 what good would this querist have got by it? Learn hence, 1st* 
 That unprofitable questions are to be avoided : they proceed from a 
 vain curiosity, and are proposed to gratify the itch of a speculative 
 humour. Indulge no thoughts in thy mind above, beyond, nor con- 
 trary to what is written : they may amuse and perplex, but cannot 
 edify thy soul. Observe, 2d. The wisdom of thy Lord : he does 
 not give a direct answer to this vain question, but improve? it to ge- 
 neral usefulness ; as though he had said, ' Friend, thy question is 
 impertinent; thou art prying into a matter that concerns thee not ; 
 thou hast a notion of salvation in thy head and hast put a curious 
 question from thy tongue, but thy heart is unconcerned about thy 
 own salvation ; rather than answer thy inquisitive question, I will im- 
 prove it to general use, strive to enter in at the strait gate.* 
 3d. Disciple, here is an admirable lesson for thee and me. Let us 
 learn to improve every curious question into godly edification ; nice 
 and subtle distinctions into practical and experimental conversation. 
 You can scarce begin to speak of the grace of God and the salvation 
 of Christ to poor blind sinners, but they will ask, do not you hold 
 the doctrine of election ? I am persuaded it would be best to follow 
 our Lord's conduct: give no answer to the question ; set forth the 
 exceeding sinfulness of sin, the deplorable state sinners are in, the 
 absolute necessity of a Saviour, the matchless glory of his person, 
 the riches of his love to sinners, the fulness of his salvation of them, 
 and the need we have of faith in him, to be clothed in his righteous- 
 ness, justified before God, and eternally saved by him : this, this is 
 the Avay to instruct poor sinners' minds, and to warm and enliven 
 our own souls. Dry disquisitions promote jar and discord. Let 
 Jesus, the strait gate, be in our view : " Let us consider the end 
 of our conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and 
 for ever."....Heb. xiii. 7, 8. Let us look to him every day and every 
 hour to save us from the deceitful pride of our hearts, the abo- 
 minable wickedness of our nature, and from all our cursed lusts, 
 which war against our souls. 
 
 This is our comfort, dearest Lord, Tho' chief of sinners Lord I am, 
 That ev'ry soul thou'lt save, Yet still I hope in thee : 
 
 Who comes unto thee self-abhorr'd, O suffering, loving, saving Lamb. 
 Salvation for to crave. Save, save poor guilty mc. M. 
 
NOVEMBER 9. Sir 
 
 And Israel said it is enough. ...Gen. xlv. 28. 
 
 PIis soul seems fully satisfied with the Lord's dealings and dis- 
 pensations : he could ask no more : there was a perfect calm in his 
 mind : he sings a street requiem to his soul, like David, when he 
 says, " Return unto thy rest, Q my soul, for the Lord hath dcu.li 
 bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, 
 mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before 
 the Lord in the land of the living.".. ..Psalm cxvi. 7, 8, 9. Most pre- 
 cious resolution for such great bounties ! Come, christian, canst 
 thou say with the hoary-headed patriarch, to night, it is enough ? 
 "What could God have done more for me, which he hath not done ? 
 Could that one word, sounded in the ears of Jacob, " Joseph is yet 
 alive," cause such transport of joy to rush so suddenly upon him as 
 to be too impetuous to be resisted ? How should that blessed word, 
 Jesus is yet alive, transport thy soul ? Was Joseph governor over all 
 the land of Egypt ? The government is upon the shoulders of your 
 cider brother, Christ.. ..Isa. ix. 6. All power in heaven and earth is 
 committed to him. ...Matt, xxviii. 18. lie sailh, " I am he that 
 liycth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore. Amen : 
 and have the keys of hell and of death. "....Rev. i, 18. Is not here 
 cause for thee to cry out, satis, it is enough : I can desire no more. 
 Surely, this is sufficient to cause thy dejected spirit to revive. Did 
 Jacob believe when he saw the presents of liis son ? Did he say, " I 
 will go and sec him before I die ?" O christian, is thy Saviour as- 
 cended into his kingdom ? Has he received gifts for thee and poured 
 down love-tokens upon thee ? Has he given thee repentance to turn 
 to him and faith to embrace him ? What is thy language ? It is 
 enough : Jesus ever lives, eternally loves, incessantly prays. Then 
 I shall surely see him, but not before I die : but I shall soon sliake 
 off these rags of mortality and sing victory in death. Then, O then 
 I shall behold him eye to eye, and face to face. Then I shall say 
 wich highest rapture of soul, " It is enough." Then death shall be 
 swallowed up of life and I shall cast down my crown before the 
 Lamb. O then I shall eternally see him, "whom having not seen 
 I love : in whom, though now I see him not, yet believing, I re- 
 joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.".... 1 Pet. i. 8. 0,that 
 in the same Spirit with Paul, may I ever say, " Doubtless I count all 
 things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 
 my Lord.".. ..Phil. iii. 8. 
 
 Too oft my fooilsh heart, Lord, let thy love still neign 
 To other loves incline, O'er all my foes within : 
 
 And so from Jesus I depart, Thee do I count my greatest gain. 
 Then grief and sorrow's mine. O save me from all sin. M. 
 
518 NOVEMBER 10. 
 
 He that receive th me, receiveth him that sent me.... Matt. 
 X. 40. 
 
 It is very natural to think, if the Son of God were now upon 
 earth, O how gladly would we receive him into our houses. If you 
 really would, you now cordially receive the report of him into your 
 hearts : you now welcome it by faith as the most precious truth that 
 ever saluted your ears. 1st. What is it to receive Christ ? There is 
 endless perplexity in the consciences of many poor sinners, whether 
 they have received Christ, when they received him, what it is to 
 receive him, how they received him, and whether they received him 
 right, 8cc. Satan gets great advantage here over many. Therefore 
 he stirs up many (who nevertheless may do it ignorantly) who sadly 
 puzzle poor souls with nice and subtle refinements about receiving 
 Christ. You would have no difficulty to tell whether you received a 
 dear friend, how your heart stood affected towards him, and what 
 reception you gave him. How is it between Christ and your soul? 
 Do you see him, believe on him, and trust in him as a Saviour, just 
 suited to your ruined, desperate, hopeless state ? Bless the holy 
 Spirit for this : you have received Christ. Now, 2d. Consider the 
 blessedness of this. You have also received him who sent Christ, 
 that is, God the Father : he gave Christ for us : he sent Christ to 
 us. And therefore, 1st. God is now your loving Father in Christ : 
 there is nothing but peace and love in his heart towards you: he is 
 for ever reconciled to you : all his attributes are engaged for you : he 
 declares,'* I will be merciful to your unrighteousness : your sins and 
 your iniquities I will remember no more."....Heb. viii. 12. You are 
 now as safe from the curse of sin, the condemnation of the law, and 
 the power of satan, as though you were at his right hand; for your 
 Father's right hand is your defence. If he stretch it forth to chastize 
 and alTlict you, it is all in love. O the joy of faith ! For, 2d. You 
 are his righteous child in Christ. Though in yourself you are sin- 
 ful and miserable, have irksome thoughts, vile lusts, disagreeable 
 feelings, the workings of unbelief, devilish injections, Sec. these 
 all spring from your flesh, in which dwells no good thing ; these are 
 common to all the children of God : therefore think it not strange 
 that you are made to groan under a body of sin and death, from day 
 to day ; let not these mar your comfort, nor prevent your joy of 
 being a perfectly righteous son or daughter of (iod in Christ. For, 
 3d. You ever have all free access t© Ciod and all holy boldness be- 
 iore him....Eph. iii. 12. 
 
NOVEMBER 11. 319 
 
 The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken azcay; blessed be 
 the name of the Lord.... Job i. 21. 
 
 Meek Moses, righteous Lot, patient Job, were as wicked by 
 nature as any sinners that ever were born. True, they were emi- 
 nent saints ; but who made them so? The same Saviour who sanc- 
 tifies you and me. Cease ye from man : look upon the most holy 
 saint as a sinner in himself, but only distinguished by the grace of 
 God. When any grace eminently shines in any sinner, remember 
 it all comes out of the fulness of the Saviour ; so look for grace for 
 yourself. While Job suffers the loss of all, yet he glories in the 
 possession of all : though he could not now say my children, my 
 possessions, my health, Sec. yet he could say, " My Redeemer 
 liveth."....Job xix. 25. The belief of this sweetened every cross ; 
 made up every loss ; kept his head from sinking in the deep waters 
 of affliction, his heart from fainting under the greatest tribulations, 
 and fortified his mind with the greatest patience under the severest 
 calamities ; he saw his Lord in all, therefore by his grace he sub- 
 mits to all. Job is here set before us as most eminent for his pa- 
 tience. To what end ? That we might learn patience hereby ? Re- 
 member patience is a grace: it is a gift from the God of all grace: 
 we can no more derive patience from the example of Job, than we 
 can get light and heat from a painted sun. View the saint, but look 
 to the King of saints to be like-minded. "The Lord gave." Sweet 
 consideration 1 Look upon all you enjoy as the free gift of a covenant 
 God ; hold the giver fast, but hold the gifts with a trembling hand. 
 Perhaps ere to-morrow's sun, you may be constrained to say of some 
 of your sweetest enjoyments, " The Lord hath taken away." Love 
 saw they would do you harm and that it is best for you to be without 
 them ; therefore in love God takes them away. Love is always the 
 same, in a giving as in a taking God ; therefore, what good reason 
 have we to say for both, " blessed be the name of the Lord?" Here 
 you see the work of faith. It sees the Lord's name written upon 
 every enjoyment : it owns the Lord's right to give or take away: 
 it bows to the Lord's sovereign will, and says. Lord thou dost all 
 things well : though what thou doest I cannot now know, yet I shall 
 know hereafter ; I am sure there is a Father's love and wisdom in 
 all : O that all may be sanctified to me, and I profited by all. Thus, 
 as faith in Christ brings us to the knowledge of God, as our loving 
 Father, to enjoy peace with him ; so it teaches submission to his will, 
 and to bless his name at all times. Rejoice in the Lord. 
 
520 • NOVEMBER 12. 
 
 lie that hath received his iestimony^ hath set to his seal 
 that God is tnie...John iii. ^^. 
 
 Wherein consists the essential difference between tlidsnghte- 
 ous and the wicked ? In this, the heart of the former receives the 
 testimony of Christ c^fld thereby honors the God of truth : the lat- 
 ter rejects it and thereby makes God a liar....l John v. 10. No mar- 
 vel then that it is declared, " He that believeth not the Son, shall 
 hot see life, but the wrctth of (^od abideth on him. "....John iii. 36. 
 And that "Cod is angry with the wicked every day.". ...Psalm vii. 1 1. 
 Why ? Because they every day live in this daring, provoking sin of 
 unbelief of the testimony of the Son of God, and give God the lie_ 
 to his face. This is the greatest sin under heaven. O the long suf- 
 fering patience of God toward such stout-hearted rebels. Consider, 
 1st. Vv'hat is this testimony ? It is the witness which Christ bears to 
 the children of men, that he is the Son of God: that he came forth 
 from God : that he came to fulfil the law of God : to honor the jus- 
 tice of God : to bring glory to all the attributes of God, by saving 
 sinners according to the truth of God. 2d. What is it to receive 
 this testimony ? Simply to credit it ; just as one does by a person 
 who in a solemn manner gives a plain and faithful evidence in court 
 of what he knows of the cause on trial. Now here we see what a 
 simple thing faith is : it is no other than receiving Christ's testimo- 
 f\y ; believing him to be what he declares he is, the Saviour of lost 
 sinners ; righteousness to us who have none of our own ; an atone- 
 ment for sins, which we must have been damned for without ; re- 
 demption from the curse of the law, which we could never avert ; 
 and the hope of eternal life, which we have forfeited. ^ Thus we 
 l-eceive the testimony of Jesus as a reprieve for condemned malefac- 
 tors, an act of grace for outlawed rebels, a report of mercy for mi- 
 serable sinners. But alas ! How do we puzzle our heads and per- 
 plex our hearts ? For, instead of blessing Jesus for this precious tes- 
 timony, looking at it, considering its suitableness, and deriving our 
 comfort from it, we get to questioning our faith, whether we have 
 received it and do believe aright. This is our folly. 3d. See the 
 blessedness of receiving this testimony : " He hath set to his seal 
 that God is true." Or, as some read it, God hath sealed him (by 
 his Spirit) because he is true. As we set our seal to God's truth, 
 he will seal our hearts with his comforts. We cannot honor God 
 more, nor please him better, than to hear and believe his beloved 
 Sun. 
 
 The testimony of Christ's love By faith it lifts our souls above, 
 
 Is full of joy and peace, And doth from sin release. M. 
 
NOVEMBER 13. S2i 
 
 The Lord is able to give thee much more than this..,. 
 2 Chron. xxv. 9. 
 
 Thus spoke the propliet to Amaziah king of Judah. " He did 
 that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a per- 
 fect heart."... .2 Chron. xxv. 2. His works were externally right, 
 but he was destitute of uprightness of heart towards the Lord. 
 Our Saviour forbids, "Judge not according to the appearance.".... 
 John vii. 24. Be not hasty in judging of any one : nay, not of thy 
 own state neither, merely from a few external actions. Look well to 
 thy heart: see that there is upright honesty and integrity at the 
 bottom of thy conduct : if otherwise, it will soon be made manifest. 
 So it was with Amaziah. This chapter records three abominable 
 evils which he fell into: confidence in an arm of flesh.. ..idolatry.... 
 pride, which proved his destruction. As to the first, he hired one 
 hundred thousand mighty men of valour, to strengthen his army 
 against his enemies, for one hundred talents of silver, i. e. thirty- 
 five thousand three hundred pounds sterling. A prophet of the Lord 
 is sent to forbid his going to war with these hired forces : he takes the 
 warning, but is concerned at losing so large a sum of money: the 
 prophet adds, " the Lord is able to give thee much more." Had 
 he consulted the Lord upon his expedition, he had saved his money ; 
 but he asked not counsel from him. O christian, lean not to thine 
 own understanding ; seek to thy Lord ; consult his will in his word; 
 beg for his direction in every enlerprize : otherwise, though the 
 Lord may kindly send a messenger to thee, yet thou wilt suffer 
 loss and gain vexation. If thou hast taken a wrong step do not ob- 
 stinately pursue it; better suffer the loss of any thing than thy Lord's 
 favor. Amaziah was wrought upon by the prophet's word : he sent 
 back the hired forces and gave up the loss of his money. O sweet 
 word I the Lord is able to give thee more than this : he can, and he 
 will repay every loss thou sustainest in doing and suffering his will. 
 Does thy enemy fret and teize thee from day to day ? Are thy vio- 
 lent passions ready to break out against him and to revenge thyself 
 upon him? O give up all ; give way to none : be content to suffer 
 for thy Lord's sake. Is not thy Lord able to make it up to thee ? 
 Remember he says, " Whatever ye give up for niy sake, and the 
 gospel's sake, yc shall receive an hundred fold now, and in the 
 world to come eternal life.".. ..Matt. xix. 29. 
 
 My soul, count Christ thy greatest gain, Not one groJ thing will he vvithold, 
 Who gave up all for thee : To make thee truly ble<it : 
 
 His love and grace do ever reign, Against thy foes he makes thee bold : 
 
 From sin to set thcc free. O give up all for Christ. M. 
 
 Vol. II. R r 
 
522 NOVEMBER 14. 
 
 Aj't thou made of the klng^s counsel f Forbear: Why 
 shouldest thou he smitten?.... 9. Chron. xxv. 16. 
 
 Horrid ingratitude ! No sooner was Amaziah returned from 
 the slaughter of the Edomitcs, but instead of erecting an altar to 
 the Lord of hosts, who had given him success, he falls into idolatry 
 and burns incense to their gods. He v ent to war without God : 
 he returns victorious, sets up idols, and forsakes the Lord. Vain 
 confidence is departing from the Lord, and the first step to idolatry. 
 Never think of a sin being subdued, a grace strengthened, or a 
 comfort enjoyed, without giving all the glory to the grace of Christ. 
 Look at thy victories with humility. Know self to be as great an 
 idol as the gods of the Edomites. Though the Lord's anger was 
 kindled against Amaziah, yet he is long-suffering to sinners : he 
 sends his prophet to reprove him : he gives him a most stinging sar- 
 casm, '* Why hast thou sought imto the gods of the people, who 
 could not deliver them out of thy hands?" This is an instance of 
 the greatest folly and madness. Wilt thou, O christian, sacrifice 
 to the goodness of thy heart, or burn incense to the pride of thy 
 free-will? Could these deliver thee from the hands of thine ene- 
 mies? Nay, if the Lord had not restrained the wickedness of thine 
 heart and bowed the stubborn rebellion of thy will, they would have 
 delivered thee into the hands of thine enemies, and eternal destruc- 
 tion had been thy doom. O, constantly sacrifice to free-grace : let 
 the sweet incense of praise ascend from thy heart this night to the 
 God of all grace, the Saviour of wicked-hearted, proud sinners 1 
 How does Amaziah behave under this sharp reproof? Why, instead 
 of falling under conviction, and repenting of his base ingratitude 
 and ridiculous conduct, he falls upon the Lord's prophet. Like 
 Ahab to Elijah, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy ?" So he 
 asks, "Art thou made of the king's counsel ?" And he threatened 
 him. O, it is a dreadful sign to be angry with a faithful reprover of 
 one's sin ! When the horrid consequence of sin is laid before one, 
 it is a vain, foolish shift of the devil to ask, what, have you been 
 in the Lord's cabinet-council ? Or, when the doctrine of God's elect- 
 ing love is spoken of, some foolishly demand, are you one of the 
 Lord's privy council ? No : but we know the Lord's mind concerning 
 sin, grace and salvation, in his word, without searching the records 
 of eternity : there it is wrote as with a sun-beam. Impenitent sin- 
 ners shall die in their sins andJUe damned for their sins : all who 
 arc saved, it is by the free grace df God abounding to sinners in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 Lord, soficn this hard heart of mine And yield unto thy wise design, 
 Each kind reproof to feel ; To keep my soul from ill. M. 
 
NOVEMBER 15. 32S 
 
 Thine heart lifteth thee iij) to boast. ...'HChron. xxv. 19. 
 
 How despicable, how contemptible does pride make a man look 
 in the eyes of his enemies? Amaziah sets out with the first step to 
 idolatry, confidence in an arm of flesh : he next falls into the most 
 gross and absurd idolatry. Reproof leaves him under it. As he had 
 forsook the Lord, the Lord cast him off: his destruction is near: 
 "A haughty spirit goes before a fall. Let him who thinks he stand- 
 eth take heed lest he fall." One sin brings on another. When the 
 Lord leaves a man, he exposes his pride and makes himself ridicu- 
 lous. Amaziah, being fluslied with success at his victory over the 
 Edomites, sends a message to Joash king of Israel, saying, " Come, 
 let us see one another in the face." A challenge to war : face me if 
 you dare. Alas ! he little thought that the Lord was departed from 
 him, that he was given up to hardness of heart and to seek his own 
 destruction. How different his language from that of David to the 
 boasting Goliath, "I come against thee in the name of the Lord of 
 hosts.".... 1 Sam. xvii. 45. Joash, according to the custom of the 
 Easterns, answers him by a proverb, " The thistle sent to the cedar, 
 saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and lo, a wild beast 
 passed by and trod down the thistle." Intimating that there was as 
 contemptible a comparison between Amaziah and himself, as between 
 that low base weed, a thistle, and a tall stately cedar. However, 
 what Amaziah wanted in strength he possessed in pride, which prov- 
 ed his overthrow. Christian, learn to know thyself: be not high- 
 minded : though thy Lord gives thee to tread down all the power of 
 the enemy, yet he says, " notwithstanding, rejoice not in this, that 
 evil spirits arc subject unto thee." No? Why not ? Is not this mat- 
 ter of joy ? Doubtless. But take heed of vain-glorying here. Be- 
 ware, lest thy heart be lifted up to boast. The worst evil, pride, 
 may be excited by the best of causes. Know thyself to be like that 
 very contemptible thistle in Lebanon ; that vile, prickly weed, in 
 which dwells no good, and has no strength to stand against the foot 
 of an enemy. But, the Lord points thee to incessant cause of joy : 
 " Rather rejoice, because tliy name is written in heaven." There- 
 fore, the e\erlasting love of the God of heaven is fixed on thee; 
 the invincible arm of the God of heaven is engaged to keep thee ; 
 and know, to thy huniilily, thou hast done nothing to deserve this: 
 " Thou, O Lord God, art a God full of compassion, and gracious." 
 ....Psalm Ixxxvi. 15. 
 
 Is this a time for us to boast. Forbid it, O thou Lord of host, 
 
 When sin within us dwell ? For 'tis the pride of hell M. 
 
S24 NOVEMBER 16. 
 
 Let every man prove Ids ozvn zoork, and then shall he have 
 rejoicing in himself alone.... Gal. vi. 4. 
 
 A BAY is coming, " when the fire shall try every man's work, 
 of what sort it is."....l Cor. iii. 13. O how much wood of pride, 
 HAY of self-love, and stubble of self-complacency will then be 
 burnt up ! Yea, and it will be entirely owing to the rich grace and 
 finished salvation of Jesus (not for any work of ours) that our souls 
 too are not in that day cast into unquenchable fire. Why then does 
 the apostle bid us prove our own work ? That we may be joyful. 
 Alas, says the convinced, humble sinner, I have not a work that I 
 dare look at, but instead of giving me joy it occasions sorrow : " God 
 be merciful to me a sinner:" Lord be gracious to me an unprofita- 
 ble servant. Is this the confession of thy heart ? Prove it by the 
 •word of God ; thou wilt find it agreeable thereto : rejoice in thyself 
 for it : give glory to him who taught thee to know thyself and put 
 into thine heart the language of grace. Thou art saved from self- 
 righteousness and self-confidence : rejoice in that. It is thine ov/n 
 work to believe, the power is the Lord's. Prove thy work of faith. 
 Does it fix on Jesus alone ? Does it work by love to him, to his re- 
 jected truth, his despised people, and his scorned interest and glory. 
 Rejoice in thyself, but give all glory to Christ who is the author of 
 thy faith. Are the commands of Christ as well as his salvation pre- 
 cious to thee ? Dost thou love and pursue holiness, knowing in this 
 way only thou canst enjoy fellowship with Christ ? Dost thou hate 
 sin and eschew it as contrary to the glory of Christ, the faith of thy 
 heart, the peace of thy conscience, and the love of thy soul ? Re- 
 joice in thyself. Thou art highly distinguished by the Spirit of truth 
 and holiness ; thou art born again of him and art a new creature in 
 Christ. Thy grief and concern for thy imperfections and short com- 
 ings are evidences of the purity of thy heart : though they lay thee 
 low in humility, yet they should never prevent the abounding of joy 
 in thyself. There is an essential difference bctM-een the humble joy 
 of faith in the heart of a poor sinner and the self-righteous joy of a 
 proud Pharisee : he rejoices, because he sees a difierence between 
 himself and others, that he is more righteous than others, has a bet- 
 ter title from himself to God's favor and kingdom than others : 
 he)ice he despises and glories over other poor sinners. The other 
 rejoices in himself, for what Christ is to him, has done for him, and 
 has wrought in him, in consequence of love-union ; hence his works 
 spring from faith, are done in faith, and in all he desires to eye his 
 Lord's glory ; and while he has no confidence in the flesh, he re- 
 joices in Christ Jesus.. ..Phil. iii. 3. 
 
NOVEMBER \7. 325 
 
 Tlie God oftJie idiolt cariJi shall lie be called. ...Isa. liv. 5. 
 
 An affectionate wife cannot bear to hear her loving husband 
 traduced and spoken contemptibly of. It must hurt her mind. The 
 church of the faithful "■ is the bride, the Lamb's wife. "....Rev. 
 xxi. 9. Her Redeemer is said to be her husband. These four 
 names are given to him : thy IMaker: the Lord of hosts : the Holy 
 One of Israel : the God of the whole earth. Now, if after this 
 any should dare deny, that Jesus Christ is not truly and essentially 
 God, they must be quite blind, exceeding^ bold, and abominably 
 wicked. Jealous of our dear husband's honor and glory, we can- 
 not bear to hear him so vilely traduced and blasphemed. While 
 Ave pity, we would flee from such, and take shelter under the wings 
 of our REDKEMER, aud the protection of our husband. The 
 Godhead disunity of his person is the glory of our souls. The 
 humility of his appearing in flesh adds charms to his matchless 
 beauty. Though he is our husband in our nature, our Redeemer 
 incarnate, though we have free access to him, sweet converse with 
 him, and are indulged with holy fellowship by him as man, still 
 we honor and adore him as " The God of the whole earth." 
 A poor sinner can never get near God in h4s mind, enjoy God in his 
 heart, have any peace with God in his conscience, or comfort from 
 God in his soul, but when he has simple believing views by fiiiih of an 
 incarnate God.. ..God in Jesus, his Redeemer, and his husband. And 
 is he THY jmaker ? Then give him the glory of thy existence. Is 
 he. the Loud of hosts ? Then glory in him and rejoice, for thou 
 art more than conqueror over all the powers of darkness and 
 the hosts of hell, through liim who hath loved thee. Is he the 
 Holy One of Israel ? Then study to be like him, pray for confor- 
 mity to him, walk in holy fellowship with him, so as to derive all 
 holiness from him. Is he "The God of the whole earth?" 
 Then be assured, being married to him, and redeemed by him, 
 thou shalt want nothing which his inftnite wisdom sees best to give: 
 for his everlasting love will supply all. Live daily upon the fulness 
 of thy husband, and the grace of thy redeemer. Behold your 
 precious, free-grace charter : " No weapon that is formed against 
 thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in 
 judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the ser- 
 vants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the 
 Lord. "....Isa. liv. 17. 
 
 True faith will Jesu's godhead own, This is the God of the whole earth, 
 
 For faitli's the gift of heav'n : Christ is his human name : 
 
 Christ is God's co-eternal Son, We know this by our heav'nly birth. 
 
 He's blest to whom its giv'n. We glory in the Lamb, M. 
 
326 NOVEMBER 18. 
 
 Be not carried about xcith divers and strange doctrines: 
 For it is a good thing that the heart be established 
 tvith grace. ...Ileb. xiii. 9. 
 Thk doctrines of grace are streams which flow from the foun- 
 tain head, the covenant of grace : they all lead to Jesus, the surety 
 of the covenant. All doctrines that oppose the covenant-engage- 
 ments of the holy trinity for the salvation of sinners, are diverse- 
 and strange doctrines. They direct to a different hope than Christ, 
 and lead souls from the truth as it is in him. With these diverse 
 and strangle doctrines, aiien may carry great zeal for holiness and 
 good works, while they have I'ooted enmity against the leading 
 truths and capital doctrines of the gospel. Who talk more of holi- 
 ness and contend more for good works than Arians and Sociuians, 
 ^vho yet deny the proper deity of Christ ? So, many of another cast,, 
 carry their notions of holiness and perfection to the greatest height, 
 yet vehemently oppose the doctrines of grace, election of grace, 
 salvation by grace, justification by the righteousness of Christ, and 
 the sure and certain perseverance of all his saints to eternal glory^ 
 We are in danger of being carried about, like light clouds and 
 Tneteors in the air, by the wind ; so as to have our minds always 
 fluctuating, wavering and unsettled, by diverse and strange doc- 
 trines, touching our acceptance with God and the hope of eternal life» 
 But, as a remedy against this evil, says the apostle, " It is a good 
 thing that the heart be established with grace ;" with the doctrines 
 of grace, and with an experience of the grace of those doctrines : 
 but this is not to be expected, if the doctrines of g;race are not con- 
 stantly attended to, cordially believed, and highly prized, as making 
 the everlasting love and salvation of the trinity precious to our souls. 
 Some are all for warm affections, but care little for solid judgment. 
 These soon grow giddy-headed. Others are all for doctrines, and 
 aim only to have clear heads and a sound judgment ; but care not 
 whether the heart is warmly affected and the life powerfully influ- 
 enced : such are like dry sticks in a garden, which support other 
 regxitables, but neither grow nor bring forth any fruit to Christ's glo- 
 ry. O christian, ])e concerned to have thy heart established with the 
 grace of Christ, rooted in the love of Christ, and animated by the 
 Spirit of Christ : " Built up in him, and established in the faith, as 
 ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.".. ..Col. 
 ii. 7. This is the good thing which you slioiild eaniestly covet day 
 by day. 
 
 Tho* men and saran me perjjlex Whatever tends to drive away 
 
 About a thousand thinjjs ; My faith and hope in Christ, 
 
 Christ's word is simple and directs Shall never with my spirit Stay, 
 
 To him, and comfort brings. By grace 1 will resist. M. 
 
NOVEMBER 19. S2r 
 
 Good and upright is the Lord, therefore icill he teach 
 sinners in the xvay.... Psalm xxv. 8. 
 
 Here are two characters the most opposite : a good and upright 
 Lord.. ..wicked and perverse sinners. Good and upright as the Lord 
 is, he might justly damn sinners : but no, O condescending grace ! 
 he will not leave sinners to perish in their ignorance and obstinacy : 
 he will teach them. It is said of one, that after his conversion he 
 could scarce mention the name of Jesus without a tear. O, had it 
 not been for his redemption, no sinner would have had divine teach- 
 ing ! but all whom Christ has redeemed by his blood the Spirit 
 teaches by his power : this is his ofnce in the covenant of grace. 
 This implies, that so ignorant are sinners of divine truths that no 
 teaching besides the Lord the Spirit can instruct and make them wise 
 unto salvation. Come, sinner, come down from the altitudes of thy 
 fancied wisdom and boasted knowledge, and learn this humbling 
 truth to-night. If thou seest thy own ignorance and thy want of 
 being divinely taught, rejoice at this declaration. Cry to the Spirit, 
 Lord teach me. He will teach. Who? Only such as are good 
 and upright like himself? No; but such as are of a contrary charac- 
 ter, sinners : whose camal minds are enmity against his holy law 
 who " are sold under sin, and in M'hose flesh dwells no good thing." 
 Is this thy character? The Lord will teach such.. ..in the way. 
 What way ? Not in the way of sin, that is contrary to his holiness; 
 not in the way of self-righteousness, that is contrary to his truth : 
 but in the knowledge of Christ, who is the way, the way of access 
 to God, acceptance with God, justification before God, and ever- 
 lasting life as the free gift of God, according to the covenant-grace 
 and everlasting love of God. By repentance unto life in this wav of 
 peace, in this walk of faith, in this path of love, truth and holiness 
 the Spirit will teach redeemed sinners on earth, till he brings then\ 
 to glory : his teaching shall be as effectual to their glorification as 
 the death of Christ for their salvation. Poor sinner, who like me 
 art oft distressed and dejected with thy wicked nature, take comfort 
 to night from these two truths : till satan can blot them out of 
 God's book, or make us worse than sinners, they stand on record 
 for our comfort: " Christ Jesus came to save sinners." God will 
 teach SINNERS. Look then to the finished salvation of Jesus : look 
 to the Spirit to teach thee the glory of it, to bear witness to thy soul 
 of interest in it, and to fill thee with joy and peace by it. 
 
 When'we consult with flesh and blood, Saints, if you'd live and walk' in peace, 
 AVe quit the pow'r of faith. Your reas'ning pride forego; 
 
 And cry, the news of truth's too good, Look simply to the God of grace, 
 Rejecting what God saith. Whose pow'r can all things do. M. 
 
S28 NOVEMBER 20. 
 
 IV/iefi the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a 
 crown of glory, thatfadeth not away... A Pet. v. 4. 
 
 Peter speaks with the utmost confidence of the appearing of 
 Christ, and of all his members being crowned in glory : yes, be 
 knew belter than to make his Lord a liar : for if any one of them 
 should perish in their sins, and by the force and fraud of satan be 
 dniggcd down to hell, then they would lose their crown in glory. 
 But how then would the goodness of their shepherd appear, if he 
 suffered this ? Peter never received nor ever taught such devilish, 
 damnable doctrine : he too well knew the unchangeable love of the 
 chief shepherd : he knew Christ could not be glorified nor would 
 his heavenly Father be satisfied, without each and every one of his 
 chosen, redeemed, justified, believing members were crowned in 
 glory. He says, " I am the good shepherd : 1 know my sheep, I 
 give my life for my sheep.".... John x. If but one of them was 
 missing, he would ransack hell and the grave to find him and to 
 crown him. For, 1st. Christ is our chief shepherd. The sheep 
 are all his own. 1st. By the gift of his Father.. ..John xvii. 2. 2d. 
 By the purchase of his blood. Our souls are bought with that pre- 
 cious price.... 1 Cor. vi. 20. 3d. As a shepherd, he calls us and 
 gathers us to himself by the grace of his word and the power of 
 his Spirit. 4th. He is what no other shepherd can be, and in this 
 he is CHIEF indeed to our souls : he is our life. Our life is not in 
 our own keeping : it can never be lost or forfeited : it is in our head, 
 safe and sure, certain and eternal. Being in union to, and com- 
 munion -with Christ by faith, we now enjoy the earnest of glory in 
 tlie spiritual blessings and comforts of this life. When we find 'our 
 hearts holy and happy, this is because Christ is our life. When we 
 groan.under sin, and hunger and thirst after righteousness, this is 
 because Christ is our life. Thus Christ, our chief shepherd, ap- 
 pears now in the spirit and life of our souls. 2d. Christ shall ap- 
 pear. As verily, as he once appeared as a mean man, and hung as 
 a vile malefactor, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; he 
 shall appear to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them 
 who believe. But, says a poor sensible sinner, How shall I appear 
 before him ? I deserve ever to be banished from him. True ; but, 
 3d. You shall receive from him a never-fading crown of glory : that 
 dear hand which was nailed to the cross for you, shall be stretched 
 forth to croAvn you. O Lord ! Is it possible ? I am not worthy of 
 this. True : so you will think to all eternity : therefore you will 
 sing, "Worthy is the Lajib," Sec. ..Rev. v. 12. 
 
NOVEMBER 21. 329 
 
 Judge me, O Lord, accoi^ding to my righleou.mess, and 
 according to mine integrity that is in me....Psalm\n. 8. 
 
 What ! Is David become a self-justiciary ? Does he trust in, 
 and depend upon his own righteousness ? Does he plead it, even 
 before the Lord, and expect justification by it ? Hath he not else- 
 where declared ? " In thy sight shall no man living be justified.".... 
 Psalm cxliii. 2. Why then does he talk here of my righteousness ? 
 And why does he say, " The Lord reward me according to my righ- 
 teousness ?".. ..Psalm xviii. 20. It was far from David's heart to 
 make his own righteousness the ground of his acceptance before 
 God, or to place his hope of eternal life in it. He was a poor sin- 
 ner : he knew it full well : he confesses it constantly to the Lord : 
 he declares in point of justification, " I will make mention of tb.y 
 righteousness, even of thine only. "....Psalm Ixxi. 16. Why then 
 does he here talk of his own righteousness ? Let not this puzzle thy 
 mind nor pervert thy judgment, O christian. You may also do the 
 same in the same sense. Consider, David is here speaking of false 
 calumnies and unjust accusations brought against him by Saul his 
 cruel and unkind enemy. Hast not thou met with the same treat- 
 ment ? Has thy conscience acquitted thee of what has been laid to 
 thy charge ? Hast thou known that thy hands were clean, thy heart 
 pure, and thine integrity free from base imputation ? Tlien thou hast 
 a right to carry thy cause to thy Lord and to plead thy righteous- 
 ness, uprightness and integrity of conduct, in this sense before him : 
 lo thank him for his grace which kept thee from doing, as thy ene- 
 mies unjustly charge thee, and enabled thee to do what was just 
 and right : and to beseech the Lord to save thee from them who 
 unjustly persecute thee : to pity their cruelty before him : to pray 
 to thy Lord for them. All this is perfectly consistent with thy faith, 
 thy hope, and thy love. Study to profit by thy enemies' treatment. 
 Cease ye from man. Like thy Lord, learn obedience by the thinga 
 which you suffer.. ..Heb. v. 8. Commit thy cause unto the Lord. 
 Be assured he will deliver thee from unreasonable and wicked men : 
 " For all men have not faith."....2 Thess. iii. 2. A christian's moral 
 character should be held most sacred by him. Righteousness, in- 
 tegrity and uprightness to all men, should ever be practised by him, 
 that the way of truth be not blamed on his account. O, it grieves 
 one to the very heart, when professors give cause to the enemies of 
 Christ to say, see here are your saints ! They pay no regard to mo- 
 ral righteousness and integrity ! Be careful to " give no, offence in 
 any thing, that the ministry be not blamed.". ...2 Cor. vi. 3. 
 
 The rule of right, the way that's jnst, Dear Lord, I daily need thy grace, 
 O may I ever prize ! Each duty to fulfil, 
 
 Tho' in my works 1 dare not trust, Blameless to walk before thy face. 
 Yet works faith justifies. Tho' charg'd with ev'ry ill. M. 
 
 Vol. IL S s 
 
530 NOVEMBER 22. 
 
 Co?}ie and see... John \. 39. 
 
 Thus replies the Lamb of God to an enquiry after where he 
 dwelt. How came these two disciples of John to make this enquiry ? 
 John had pointed them from himself to Jesus, with, behold thk 
 Lamb of God. Just as thoug^h he had said, " Look at that dear 
 inan : take special notice of him : he has a whole world of sinners 
 to save : he loved them from all eternity : he is come as an inno- 
 cent, meek Lamb, to be slain as a sacrifice for them ; and his pre- 
 cious blood taketh away all their sins. You and I are poor mise- 
 rable sinners^ We have no object to look to but that Lamb. Nothing 
 can take away our sins: nothing can bring pardon to our hearts, peace 
 to our consciences, and salvation to our souls, but his blood: nothing- 
 can make us holy and happy here on earth, but looking to and living 
 upon this Lamb of God. Tliey believed this : no wonder then that 
 they folIoAved Jesus and asked him, " where dwellest thou?" He said, 
 COME AND SEE. O what a sweet, free and loving invitation is here t 
 Just so it is now that disciples are gathered to Jesus. His ministers 
 preach of, and point poor lost sinners to him : they tell of the love of 
 his tender heart, the virtue of his precious blood, and the lamb-like 
 meekncssof his nature to receive every poor sinner who comes to him : 
 hence poor, sin-sick souls, dejected, distressed hearts, and troubled 
 minds, hear, are encouraged, and follow him. He turns and sees, and 
 asks them, " What seek yc ?" They ask him, where dwellest thou ? 
 Then saith Jesus, come and see. Come, and live with me, upon 
 all the fulness of grace which I have for your needy souls. Come 
 AND see all the fulness of my salvation for your destroyed souls; 
 the full atonement my blood has made for your sins ; the glo- 
 lious righteousness I have wrought out to justify your persons ; 
 the peace I have made on the cross for your souls. Comk 
 AND SEE tliat this iseflectually and for ever done, and is fully to be 
 enjoyed by faith. Hence learn, 1st. There cannot an inquiry arise 
 in a poor sinner's mind concerning Christ, but he has a meek and 
 loving answer to give. He has compassion on the ignorant and 
 them who are out of the way. 2d. Do Me enquire where Christ 
 dwells ? He answers, come and see. I, the high and lofty one who 
 inhabitcth eternity, dwell also in your nature : I became llcsh for 
 you, that you may freely come to me, joyfully see, and richly par- 
 take of my fulness to supply all your wants and all your need. 3d. 
 Here is a free invitation : come and see. Without money. You 
 have nothing to bring. Come, see, and enjoy all freely without 
 money and without price. Lastly, Jesus will soon say, cosnc and 
 see all the glory of my kin gdom above. Glory be to thee, O 
 Lord. 
 
' NOVEMBER 23. 331 
 
 Freelx) ye have received^ free.lx) give... ,Malt. x. 8. 
 
 CHRiSTspake these words to his apostles. They had their com- 
 mission immediHtely from him, to preach his everlasting gospel. 
 Many of the clergy, who pretend to be their successors, cannot 
 receive this saying. Their learned lumber, (because unsanctified) 
 cost them too much, to be dispensed for nought. Free-grace truths 
 they cannot give freely ; they have not freely received them into 
 their own hearts. Hence, through ignorance, they are enemies to 
 them and oppose rs of them. Expect to receive nothing from such 
 unconverted ministers: pity them: pray for them: avoid their 
 errors: be courteous to their persons. Private christians as well 
 as ministers have freely received out of the fulness of Christ; 
 therefore, O soul, you and I are concerned in these words. 1st. 
 What have we received ? The free favor of Cod, in the rich grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. This comprehends all things from God: 
 this includes aJl things in God. Have we repentance unto life ? It 
 is by his grace. Have we faith in, hope on, and love to Christ ? 
 All springs from the grace of Christ. Have we a new heart, spiri- 
 tual affections, holy desires? The grace of God bestowed them. 
 How? 2d. Frkklv. Like the lillies of the field they toil not, nei- 
 ther do they spin, to oljluin their rich fragrance and beautiful tinge. 
 The God of nature freely bestows both : so on us he freely bestows 
 the riches of his grace. Neither by toil could we perform con- 
 ditions, nor by spinning fulfil terms to entitle ourselves to it. We 
 have freely received life from the dead, justification from condem- 
 nation, pardon from guilt, sanctification from unlioliness, the as- 
 sured hope of heaven from the dread of hell. O consider the rich 
 and free bounty of the giver, the misery and unworthiness of the 
 receiver: and say, art not thou bound to obey his command. 3d. 
 Freely give.. ..thyself, thy whole soul and body, gifts and abili- 
 ties, time and talents to Ciod the justifier ; to Jesus the Redeemer ; 
 and to the Spirit the sanctifier. Freely give the hatred of thy heart 
 to thy sins, the abhorrence of thy soul to satan, contempt of thy 
 spirit to a vain world, love to thy brethren in Christ, pity to thy 
 fellow sinners, good will to all men, and food to thine own soul daily, 
 from Christ and the word of his grace. This is the sweet exercise 
 of faith, through the power of the Spirit. Thus free-grace ope- 
 rates upon new-born souls : "They gave their own selves unto the 
 Lord. "....2 Cor. viii. 5. O the power of this truth I "Christ gave 
 himself for our sins."....Gal. i. 4. 
 
 Lord. I am thine, redecm'd by grace, I-et free-grace love be all my boast, 
 
 I freely give myself to thee : For worth and worthiness I've none, 
 
 By povv'r divine I seek thy face, 1 feel that operates the most. 
 
 How matchless is thy love to rue! To love the Lord for all he'sdone. M. 
 
332 NOVEMBER 24. 
 
 BcJiold my servant ivhom I upJiold, mine elect in zchofn 
 mil soul deligli teth .... Isa. xlii . 1 . 
 
 Angels reproved disciples of old with, " Why stand yc gaz- 
 ing up into heaven ?".... Acts i. 1 1. How much do we deserve this 
 reproof ! Why stand ye gazing upon the vanities of the earth ? Soul, 
 what art thou looking at I What is the object of thy attention to- 
 night ? Be it what it may, God calleth to thee, and demands audi- 
 ence of him and attention to him. It is for your comfort and his 
 glory. The majesty of heaven speaks to sinful worms of the earth. 
 Bkhold : take off your eyes and thoughts from every object: be 
 all eye, ear and attention to me. Ye poor, miserable, laAV-con- 
 demned, sin-distressed souls, look at and take special notice of my 
 SERVANT. Wonder, adore, rejoice and love. My beloved, my co- 
 equal Son, who is Lord of all, becomes man, takes en him the 
 form of a servant, to do my will perfectly and to finish your salva- 
 tion completely. Whom I uphold : carnal reason bow : satanic 
 pride avaunt: high thouglils submit to faith's mystery. Not a God 
 upheld by a God, but a perfect man upheld by a perfect God. Christ, 
 as perfect man, was too weak to sustain the ponderous load of a 
 world of sin, and to support the suffering of divine wrath, in aton- 
 ing for sin and satisfying divine justice : therefore, all the fulness of 
 the godhead dwelt in him bodily, to uphold his manhood, O sin- 
 ners, in your precious Saviour behold the man : adore the God. 
 Mine elect. Christ was chosen to the office of God's servant and 
 our Saviour ; chosen in the eternal council and covenant before 
 time, to assume human nature in the fulness of tiine. In whom 
 MY soul delighteth. Says St. John, " We know that we arc of 
 God.".... 1 John V. 19. How? By this sure mark, this infallible evi- 
 dence, Ave are of one mind with God. Doth God's soul delight in 
 the person and work of his beloved Son : so doth ours. Is God's 
 soul delighted that Christ hath satisfied his justice, magnified and 
 made honorable his law, and finished salvation for miserable sin- 
 ners? So is ours. Then, as surely as our souls delight in Christ, 
 the Lord's soul delights in us. We are called Hephzibah, that is, 
 the Lord's pleasure is in thee. Thou art married to him. His soul 
 delighteth over thee....Isa. Ixii. 4. He hath given his Spirit to 
 thee : for, says Christ, he shall receive of mine, my love, my 
 atonement, my redemption, my righteousness, my salvation, my 
 resurrection, ascension and intercession, and shall shew it unto you. 
 Thus he shall glorify me in your eyes and in your hearts.... John 
 xvi. 14. 
 
 God calls, my son! attend. This is the joy of faith : 
 
 Behold his precious Son, Thia is the spring of love : 
 
 In form of servant he did send, Behold this to thy latest breath: 
 
 Salvation work he's done. Of this thou'lt sing above. M. 
 
NOVEMBER 25. 333 
 
 Let me see tlie king's face.... 2 Sam. xiv. 32. 
 
 Bki ovED Absalom was now in a state of exile from his royal 
 father: he had shed his brother Amnon's blood : the kin;jj was en- 
 raged against him. Though he suffered Absalom to return to his 
 own house at Jemsalem, yet, says he, " let him not see my face." 
 Stiil there was love, great love in David's heart towards his son. 
 Thus, O believer, thy heavenly Father may hide away his face in 
 anger because of thy provocations : that's thy hell. But his love 
 never abates ; it is always the same towards thee, from everlasting 
 toeverlasliag: that's thy heaven to know. Was it not so, hell had 
 long since been thy poition and mine. C) think of, believe in, re- 
 joice for, everlasting, unchangeable love ; love, that will never be 
 v/earied out by thy sins, till it h^ith brought the soul where sin and 
 sorrow shall be no more for ever. But, was Absalom quiet and easy 
 to return to his house at Jerusalem? No ; amidst all his enjoyments, 
 there was. a fly in the pot : his mind was corroded : his heart un- 
 happy. Why ? The king would not see him : and, as though he 
 had but this one desire in his soul, and all other enjoyments were 
 nothing without this, says he, "Let me sek the king's face." 
 He could not rest till this request was granted him. Some folk* 
 are very fond of having their fortimes told. O souJ, dost thou de- 
 sire to know thy state ? Thou mayest very easily know to-night 
 whether thou art in the way to heiiven or hell. Is it the one desire 
 of thy soul to see the king's face? The face of the King of kings.... 
 .the king of saints, the friend of sinners? Is thy soul restless and 
 unsatisfied without this sight? Though surrounded with all that 
 heart can wish, yet art thou saying ? " Lord, I cannot live at a dis- 
 tance from thee, without the smiles of thy love, the sight of thy 
 reconciled face in Jesus. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy coun- 
 tenance upon me and I shall be whole, quite happy and comfortable. 
 The light of thy countenance will make me exceeding glad. In 
 thy smiles is heaven : in thy frowns is hell." Here is a blessed 
 and sure evidence that thou art a child of God : here is a proof 
 of thy faith and the regeneration of thy soul. It is disposed to 
 God ; has a loving desire, an earnest pressing after enjoying the 
 comforts of his Spirit, a sight of his face and a sense of his love. 
 You will not, you cannot rest upon doctrines of grace, without ex- 
 periencing the grace of the doctrines in your heart ; not be satis- 
 fied with believing the everlasting love of God, without feeling it 
 shed abroad in your heart, by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Love cannot bear absent to live, It makes me daily cry and grieve, 
 
 At distance from its Lord : 'Till nearness he afford. M. 
 
334 NOVEMBER 26. 
 
 Biifailh the walls of Jericho fell down.... Heh. xi. 30. 
 
 Doubtless this story has been food for the profane wit of 
 scoffing infidels. To see Joshua and his army, with seven priests 
 blowing ram's horns, marching round Jericho, once every day, and 
 ON the seventh day, seven times, what could the men of Jericho 
 think? Doubtless, that it was the foolish parade of a set of weak- 
 headed men. Had they told them, behold on the seventh day's 
 blowing of the ram's horns, the strong walls of your city shall fall 
 down at our shouting, without any human power, they would have 
 laughed them to scorn as a set of dreaming enthusiasts. The obe- 
 dience of faith is the scorn and ridicule of carnal men. What of 
 that ? Our Lord was pleased with it. They had his word for their 
 warrant ; they believed his word : they did as he commanded : the 
 event was as he promised : the Lord soon made it manifest who 
 were the fools and madmen. But, 1st. Why is it said, " By faith 
 the walls of Jericho fell down ? Was not this effected by the power 
 of God? Yes, but it was according to the faith of the Israelites, 
 and agreeable to the word of God, which was the ground of their t 
 f-iith. Divine faith and divine truth are inseparable. So it is said, 
 " by faith we are justified, and have peace with God."....Rom. v. 1, 
 " Yet it is God who iustifieth."....Rom. viii. 33. Faith has no more 
 hand in procuring justification than the Israelites had in throwing- 
 down the walls of Jericho ? The righteousness of Christ solely ob- 
 tains this for us. But as they did, so we do by faith, shout, Christ 
 and salvation. All opposition from sin and satan fall before us : we 
 see the kingdom of heaven open to us. 2d. Here was the obedi- 
 ence of faith. Though to carnal sense and reason, the means 
 commanded were even ridiculous, yet they obeyed. Study the 
 Lord's word: obey his will: attend his ordinances: look to the 
 Lord for the promised blessing. 3d. Here is the patience of faith. 
 They encompassed the city seven days and repeated their work. 
 O christian be not weary : hold on and hold out till the seventh day, 
 the sabbath of thy eternal rest comes. Says Bishop Hall, " A good 
 heart groans under his infirmities : fain woidd he be rid of them : 
 strives and prays: but when he hath done all, until the end of the 
 seventh day, it cannot be." But, 4th. At God's time the walls fell : 
 not one moment sooner. His word cannot fail. So, believer, at 
 God's appointed time (you are immortal till then) shall your body, 
 the prison walls of your soul, fall. O then faith may shout, " for 
 there remaineth a rest for the people of God."... Jleb. iv. 9. 
 
 Faith looks at God's omnipotence. Increase our faith, thou dearest Lord, 
 Consults not reason vain : That we may shout thy praise, 
 
 Soars far above our sight and sense, Get daily comfort from thy word, 
 Faith is our precious gain. Of pardon, love and grace. M, 
 
NOVEMBER 27. 335 
 
 He received from God the Father, honor and glory, ivhe?i 
 there came such a voice to him from the excellent gloj'ij. 
 
 This is my beloved Son, in i\:hom I am well pleased 
 
 2 Pet. i. 17. 
 
 These words furnish poor sinners with matter for sweet medi- 
 tation. Spirit ot truth, help us to see the honor and glory of the 
 Father and Son in them, and to get comfort from them. Here is, 
 1st. A silencing answer to that objection, you rob God the Father of 
 his honor and glory by ascribing so much to his Son Jesus. Have 
 you never been baited with this temptation ? It comes from the enemy 
 of God and sinners. Can two walk together except they be agreed ? 
 But God and we are agreed. Our faith puts all the honor and glory 
 of our salvation upon God's beloved Son ; there God himself puts 
 it : in his beloved Son, God is well pleased, and Avith us also in' 
 him. 2d. Here see the nature of faith : it causes the soul both to 
 imitate and obey God, and to be well pleased with what God is, the 
 dear man, the beloved Son of God. 3d. Though to the eye of 
 nature Jesus appeared as a mere man in abject poverty, contempti- 
 ble meanness, and lowest abasement ; yet the Father gives them the 
 highest honor and glory because he magnified his holy law and made 
 it honorable : satisfied his divine justice, and brought everlasting 
 honor and glory to every attribute and perfection of his nature. 
 So that now, "God is just, and the justifier of sinners who believe 
 in Jesus." Then under a sight and sense of your ruined nature, 
 • innumerable sins, and dreadful apostasies from God, put honor and 
 glory upon the Son of God this night: his work and salvation God 
 is well pleased with ; it has satisfied heaven for all thy sins; let thy 
 conscience be satisfied with Jesus, and glory of him and in him 
 alone. For thy encouragement herein, 4th. Consider Peter, who 
 wrote these words: he* was honored to be on the mount: saw his 
 Lord's transfiguration : heard these words from the excellent glory : 
 and yet, O shocking to think of! this same Peter, with horrid 
 oaths and curses, denied that he knew the man whom God the Fa- 
 ther had so lately honored and glorified : yet there was an inexpres- 
 sible fulness of grace in Jesus for him. Out of Christ's fulness, 
 Peter received grace upon grace, whereby he was recovered from 
 his fall, restored to repentance, and preserved to salvation. O may 
 the dear Saviour look our hearts into godly sorrow and holv love, 
 that we may say, " This is my beloved Saviour in whom I am well 
 pleased." 
 
 If God in Jesus is well pleas'd, O Lamb of God, we lift our eyes 
 
 Such glory to him gave, Up to thy gracious throne, 
 
 We ne'er can honor Christ too much, Grant us thee daily m jre to prize, 
 Who came our seuls to save, , And call thee, Lord, our own. M, 
 
335 NOVEMBER 28. 
 
 I saij unto all, xcatcJi....MarJi xiii. 37. 
 
 It is very awful, -when God's precious promises are opposed to 
 his rigliteous commands : hence some get above and beyond duty: 
 they cannot bear the word duty ! O, say they, don't tell us of duty, 
 it is such legal stuff! We are at liberty : we are not under the law, 
 but under grace : true, indeed they are at liberty, but it is to per- 
 Tert the gospel : they are awfully under the law of sin ; not under 
 the law of love, but the spirit of delusion : their ears are closed and 
 their hearts shut against the sweet voice of our loving charmer, 
 Christ. O, my soul, watch against such, and their licentious notions 
 of liberty, as you prize the loA-e of Christ and sweet communion 
 with him. He who sees no danger, and thinks he has nothing to 
 lose, will give no attention to this command, watch. It is here 
 opposed to sleep. Sin is not dead : satan never sleeps : the world 
 ever invites and enchants: all is at war against thee; therefore thy 
 Lord in love calls unto thee, watch. And you have a most treach- 
 erous, most deceitful, and desperately wicked foe within, who ever 
 takes part with your enemies without, even your heart, "out of 
 which proceed all evils.".. .. Matt. xv. 19. There is not an evil in 
 our thoughts, in our tongue, or in our life, but what is first hatched 
 there and springs from thence. If there was no evil within, there 
 would be none without. Satan finds something within us to work 
 upon or we might bid him defiance : Ave cannot say as our Lord did, 
 '' the prince of this Avorld cometh, and hath nothing in me. "....John 
 xiv. 30. No, but we have, as Paul had, an evil nature, " flesh, in 
 which dwelleth no good thing.". ...Rom. vii. IS. O then, watch con- 
 tinually over the motions of your -wicked heart and evil nature : 
 watch against high thoughts, which spring from pride; against car- 
 nal reasonings, which exalt themselves against thy Lord and his 
 truths, and tend to rob thee of thy peace, thy hope, and thy joy. 
 Watch against that vile brat of pride and carnal reason, cursed un- 
 l)elief. O this is a many-headed monster: he will suggest that truth 
 is fiction, the way of holiness folly, and the paths of sin delightful: 
 " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. "....Matt. xxvi. 
 41. Join prayer to watching : the diligence and number of our ene- 
 mies should urge us to watch, that we be not surprized : our 
 weakness and pronencss to presumption, should make us pray to be 
 ])owerfully strengthened; for though the devil takes part with all 
 evil in us, Christ takes our part, and is before the throne for us.... 
 Ik-b. ix. 24. 
 
 My ^oiil be ever on thy guard, O may I ever hear thy voice. 
 
 Still waich and keep thy armour on, Jesur,, thou captain of my soul, 
 He ever lool<ing to thy Lord, So live and walk, as to rejoice 
 
 And I;;io\r thou canst not stated alone- In thee, who dost my pow'rs controHl. 
 
 M. 
 
NOVEMBER 29. 537 
 
 2 zvas alive zvitliout the law once: bid ivhen the command- 
 ment came, sin revived, and I died....Bo?n. vii. 9. 
 
 Would you read the best experience of a true believer in 
 Christ that ever was wrote? Here it is in this chapter. Try your 
 own. Judge of others by this. Commend me to holy, humble 
 Paul's experience. If we are taught by the same Spirit, ours will 
 answer to his, as face does to face in a glass, in the following parti- 
 culars. Isl. A sense of sin will he revived in the conscience, which no 
 human palliatives or lulling opiates can keep in a swoon any longer. 
 You will so see, feel and be sensible of its dread and terror, that 
 you will confess yourself to be totally destroyed by it, and your case 
 to be quite desperate under it. 2d. This is effected by the law : 
 *' For by the law is the knowledge of sin.' '....Rom. iii. 20. " When 
 the commandment came," that is, when the purity and spirituality 
 of the holy and perfect law of God comes into your heart and con- 
 science, then you see that it requires truth and perfection of obe- 
 dience in the inward parts as well as in the outward walk. You see 
 you have it not : you find it as much impossible for you, a sinner, to 
 fulfil God's holy law, as it is for you to create a world. Then, 3d. 
 You die : you become as a dead man. Seeing the exceeding sinful- 
 ness of sin in you and the dreadful curse of the law hanging over 
 you, all hopes of life forsake you. Sin and the law live within you; 
 they pierce your soul to the quick. The law adds strength to sin. 
 You can no longer flatter yourself that your state is good, that you 
 can do any thing to bring yourself upon good terms with God : you 
 have now done with all works of righteousness to that end: you can 
 have no more hope from your obedience to the law, than from your 
 transgressions against it : you see yourself sin in all that you are 
 and in all that you do. But, 4th. The hand of the comforter is in 
 all tliis. His loving design is to bring you to live by the faith of the 
 Son of God. Instead of looking to and living by your own righte- 
 ousness, you are to live wholly and solely upon his life and by his 
 righteousness. But while alive without the law, and striving to ful- 
 fil the law, you overlook Christ, slight his righteousness, think 
 your own better to trust to than his. Now the Spirit keeps alive sin 
 and the law in you for this very purpose, to make you wretched in 
 self and happy in Christ. All experiences that do not effect this, 
 arc not worth a straw. Christ is the end of the law for righteous- 
 ness, to everyone that believcth....Rom. x. 4. 
 
 When dead in sin. I was alive, Think, O my soul, with grateful joy, 
 
 And strong in lesjal confidence; When legal terrors thee bc'-et. 
 
 But Christ me lov'd and would not leave Christ sav'd thee from the fiery law, 
 My soul, imder such false pretence. And brought to thee salvation sweet. 
 
 M. 
 Vol. II. T t 
 
338 NOVEMBER 30. 
 
 Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said^ 
 I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee....Heb. xiii. 5. 
 
 Preach content to a covetous, carnal man, and you will just 
 have the same success as if you bid the surging billows be calm or 
 the boisterous winds be still. He possesses nothing which can give 
 true content to his mind. Has he riches ? They are a curse to him : 
 for be himself is under the curse of the law. O believer was not 
 this, in a certain sense, your case also, you stand in no need of this 
 exhortation, "Be content." You are the subject of a carnal na- 
 ture : this is under the curse of the law : for this is ever dissatis- 
 fied, craving for more, nturmuring against the dispensations of the 
 Lord. Know and consider this : be humble : be watchful. Consi- 
 der, 1st. What good things of this life you have. Be they little or 
 much, do you deserve them ? Have you a right to challenge more 
 from God, the giver of them ? Here set your foot, and let conscience 
 answer nature's cravings. 2d. Consider what spiritual things you 
 have. 1 st. You have the everlasting, unchangeable love of a cove- 
 nant God and Father fixed on you. 2d. The life, death, and inter- 
 cession of God the Son, for your righteousness, atonement, and 
 salvation. 3d. As a consequence of this, and that you may know 
 and be sure of this, the Spirit has bestowed his graces upon you. 
 Hence you have faith in Christ, hope towards God, love to him, 
 delight in him, a heart to cry to him, a will to please him, a desire 
 to walk holily before him. And, 4th. To encourage and enable to 
 this, you have all his precious promises in Christ : these are the 
 Staff of your faith, the support of your hope, and the joy of your 
 soul. What want you more? Paul sums up all in one word : " all 
 THINGS are yours.".... 1 Cor. iii. 22. Is not this enough to make 
 you content ? No, say you, I find myself such a vile sinner, I am 
 afraid I shall forfeit all these things : so you would before the next 
 setting sun, if you stood in yourself, but you are in Christ ; there- 
 fore, here is a covenant promise from a faithful God for you, " I will 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee." This is a most precious word for 
 you : fasten upon it : draw comfort, derive content from it. Some 
 who spoil texts and mar comforts, cry, O this regards things of this 
 life only. Well, surely if God loves his people's bodies, he will 
 never forsake their souls: and to silence all the cavils of unbelief, 
 the words run, no, I will not leave thee, no, no, I will not forsake 
 thee. Here are five negatives. " Be not faithless but believing.".... 
 John XX. 27. 
 
 With such a promise in my heart. Content is to be found in God, 
 My soul cleave close to God, lii nothing el. e beside ; 
 
 Cause ajl base murmrin^s to depart He'll ne'er tor. aUe us ihro' the road, 
 Which do gainsay his word. But to the end will guide. M. 
 
DECEMBER I. 339 
 
 These all died in faith.... Heb. xi. 13. 
 
 An ofRcer in the navy, who held me exceedingly in derision on 
 account of religion, fell dangerously ill. To my great surprize he 
 sent for me. I found him in distress of soul: spoke freely to him 
 of our lost estate, of Christ's love and salvation, and prayed with 
 him. He wept sore, clapping his hands to his breast, he cried out, 
 " O my God, have I got a soul ?" As though he had never known it 
 before. Turning to the place where I kneeled, he said, " Where 
 have I lived that I never heard these things before ? O, I shall never 
 forget what I have heard this night 1" I visited him to his last mo- 
 ments, and trust he died in the faith, and hope to see him in glory. 
 "Heaven is a house full of the miracles of Christ's free-grace," says 
 one. There is the once idolatrous Manasseh ; the murdering, adul- 
 terous David: the persecuting Saul ; the Christ-denying Peter, 8cc. 
 O my God, shall wretched I be there? Yes, if I die in the faith of 
 Christ: my vileness, sinfulness, and unworthiness, do but as it were 
 qualify me for Christ and his free grace. Christ by his free grace 
 qualifies me for heaven. See the nature of this faith, 1st. It looks 
 to precious promises : though seen afar off, yet it brings assurance 
 of their existence into the mind, and the soul embraces them. O 
 christian, when you complain of your faith, you forget the great and 
 precious promises which are the ground and support of it. 2d. Ft 
 not only eyes Christ in the promises, but it receives Christ, " In 
 .whom are all the promises, yea, and amen to the glory of God.".... 
 2Cor. i. 20. O when Christ dwells in the heart by faith! What 
 then ? 3d. We confess ourselves strangers and pilgrims in the earth : 
 we see we have got a heavenly inheritance : we are only passing 
 through this world to it. This world is not our home : we are not 
 of the world : our hearts are above the world : our souls cry to be 
 at home with our Father, God; our elder brother, Christ; and our 
 brethren in glory. For, 4th. With Abraham we see the day of 
 Christ. He saw the first coniingof Christ long- before his advent: 
 we see by faith his second coming to take us to himself in glory ; 
 hence we rejoice. 5th. O the comfort of living, O the joy of dying 
 in this faith: it realizes heaven and glory to the soul: hope is its, 
 constant attendant : by faith and hope in the promises, love springs 
 up in the heart to the promiser. Thus the sinner is fit for the en- 
 joyment of God. Die when he may, he dies in faith....dies in the 
 Lord, and shall live eternally with the Lord» "By grace ye are 
 saved through faith. "....Ephes. ii. 5. 
 
 'Tis sweet to live by faith in Christ, Soon we mtist die, then we shall prove 
 
 In peace with God above : The precious joy of faith. 
 
 False hopes and sin we do resist, How safe in everlasting love, 
 
 For faith does work b/ love. Ev'n at our Utest breath. M. 
 
310 DECEMBER 2. 
 
 The times of I'efreshing shall come from the presence of 
 the Lord. ...Acts iii. 19. 
 
 Who shall these times come to? Every sinner who repents and 
 turns to Christ for salvation. From whence shall they come ? From 
 the presence of the Lord : here then it is manifest v/he ther you 
 have repented and turned to the Lord. If so, 1st. Your soul will 
 delight in God's presence. 2d. You uill earnestly long for, and 
 highly prize these refreshing seasons. o(^.. You will say with David» 
 "Thou lU't my God, my times are in thy hands: I will bless the 
 Lord at all times : his praise shall be continually in my mouth.".... 
 Psalm xxxi. H. xxxiv. 1. Hence, 4th. You will turn from your 
 sins, your self-righteous hopes, carnal pleasures and worldly vanities, 
 to seek all your happiness in the enjoyment of the presence of the 
 Lord. And, 5th. You will wait in the patience of faith for the com- 
 ing of refreshing seasons, believing they shall come. Is it now a 
 night of gloom and sadness ? Are we tried and afBicted, bowed do»\vn 
 and dejected I Is the sun of comforc set ? Does the mqon withhold 
 its shining, and the stars their light? Yet times of refreshing shall 
 come. Believe this: hang on this word: bless the Lord for it. 
 That dear comforter, who brought us to Christ, will refresh our 
 souls with a sense of the love of Christ, the peace of God, and the 
 joys of the heavenly world: he will refresh us with his witness to 
 our hearts that we are the children of God and heirs of glory. 
 He does keep up in our minds a constant sense of this precious 
 truth, that Christ is both an able and a willing Saviour to us : that 
 he calls our weary, labouring souls to him, and promises to ease 
 and refresh us. This is refreshing to our hearts. Is sin our burden ? 
 Do we want rest ? Are our souls troubled for want of peace ? Are 
 our spirits distressed for want of refreshment? Christ says, come 
 unto me : but the most precious times of refreshment shall soon 
 come : yet a, little while, and we shall behold, and be in the eternal 
 enjoyment of the presence of the Lord. C), a lively view of this by 
 faith is most refreshing indeed ! Then we long to be absent from the 
 body and present with the Lord : we are sick of the world : sick of 
 ourselves : we triumph over sin and satan, smile at death and wel- 
 come its approach. And now, Lord, what wait I for ? " My hope 
 is in lhce."....Psalm xxxix. 7. Looking for that blessed hope, and 
 the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ who gave himself for us....Tit. ii. 13, 14. 
 
 Tho' sin and sorrow bow me down, Therefore I'll wait and look and pray. 
 And my dear Lord delays: And not from him depart; 
 
 He will refresh my spirit soon, His presence makes my happy day. 
 With tokens of his grace. And fills with joy my heart. 
 
DECEMBER 3. 341 
 
 Nourished up in tJie uords of faith, and of good doc- 
 trine... A Tim. iv. 6. 
 
 Many a soul is saying, alas ! I hear, and hear again, and do not 
 see that I am profited. I get little or no comfort from what 1 hear. 
 Consider, 1st. What you hear. Is it the words of fuith and of good 
 doctrine ? There is more danger in words than we are aware of. 
 Wards convey corrupt ideas to the mind, and nourish vain hopes 
 and false confidences in the heart : they subvert tlie gospel and per- 
 vert the soul. Many words of this sort have obtained amongst us ; 
 such as the merit of works.. ..perhaps you start at that : you would 
 not hear preachers who use the phrase ; but these amount to just 
 the same thing, thk terms of thk gospel.. ..the conditions of 
 SALVATION. These are not the words of faith nor of good doctrine, 
 not the words which the Holy Ghost teaches : they are the words of 
 man's proud wisdom : they were hatched in the church of Rome, 
 and are contended for by the greatest enemies to our Lord's divinity* 
 iiis atonement of sin and justifying righteousness. One of this 
 stamp in our day, says, " he longs to pull down that idol, Christ,, 
 from his throne." It is well if he dont plunge into hell in the at- 
 tempt. The notion of tci ms and conditions of salvation swells sin- 
 ners with pride, nourishes them up in self-complacency and self- 
 righteousness ; they tend to obscure the glory of the finished work, 
 of Christ, the freencss of gospel grace, and the need of the agency 
 of the holy Spirit. 
 
 Therefore, 2d. Avoid such preachers who contend for these 
 phrases : seek and attend those, who follow the example of an old, 
 a very old preacher. He had true wisdom : therefore he says, " the 
 preacher sought to find out acceptable words, written words, and 
 that which was upright, even words of truth.". ...Eccles. xii. 10. 
 3d. Consider what it is to be nourished up in faith and good words : 
 it is to have a sound judgment of the truth, a peaceful conscience 
 through the truth, warm aflections to the trutli, the heart in love 
 with the truth, the life influenced by the truth, and the hope of sal- 
 vation and glory founded solely upon the truth. What is truth ? 
 Jesus says, I am the truth. ...John xiv. 6. The truths of the gos- 
 pel nourish the soul and cause it to " grow up into Christ in all 
 things, who is the head."....Ephes. iv. 15. Prize the words of 
 faith ; diligently attend good doctrine ; but evermore remember, 
 all nourishment of soul comes from Christ the head. To him look ; 
 upon him live ; study him to please in all things. " Of his fulness 
 have we all received.".. ..John i. 16. 
 
 Christ's words are full of truth and Speak, Lord, unto my heart with pow'r 
 And nourish up the soul, [grace, Make me grow up in thee : 
 
 In love and peace and holiness, O, may I feed on thee each hour, 
 
 And all our lusts controul. 'Till I thy glory see. M. 
 
342 DECEMBER 4. 
 
 /, even I am he, that hlotteth out thy transgression^ for 
 mine own sake^ and iciU not reinember thy sins....Isa. 
 xliii. 25. 
 W^TH tears of joy and emotion of love, my once dearly be- 
 loved and much honored friend, now with Jesus, the late reverend 
 Mr. Jones, minister of St. Saviour's, told me, the awful charges 
 which precede, and the free and unmerited grace which is proclaim- 
 ed in this text, made the first impressions of the Saviour's love 
 upon his heart. O, that the Lord of all grace may give us some 
 comfort from it to-night. Here grace shines with meridian splen- 
 dor : here grace gloriously reigns over all the aboundings of sin : 
 here grace sweetly triumphs over all the baseness and unworthiness 
 of the sinner. In the two former verses, God arraigns the sinner, 
 reads a black catalogue of indictment against him, and concludes 
 with, " thou has made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied 
 me with thine iniquities." The sinner is struck dumb : he dare 
 not deny it : the judge proceeds to pass sentence. What is it ? 
 Vengeance, hell-fire, and damnation? What else could be expect- 
 ed ? Be astonished, O heavens ! Shout for joy, O sinners upon earth ! 
 I, EVEN I AM HE.. ..What ? Who will be avenged of thee ? Yes : 
 but it is love which takes vengeance upon thy sins, and will melt 
 down thy hard, thy base heart. That blotteth out thy trans- 
 gressions. What, my soul, the very God whom thou hast made 
 to serve with thy sins and wearied with thine iniquities, will he blot 
 them all out ? Yes, as a black cloud is dispelled by the sun, or dis- 
 persed by the Avind ; or as an immense debt is discharged by the 
 stroke of the pen of a merciful creditor, never, never more to ap- 
 pear against or be demanded of the debtor. For, O wonder of love ! 
 he saith farther, and will not remember thy sins. I cannot 
 forget my sins. How then can my Lord ? They are all forgiven 
 and forgotten as thy sins. The Lord remembers he laid them all 
 upon his Son, thy surety. Then they passed from thee to him : 
 then they were all atoned for by him. Why all this ? For the sake 
 of thy works ? For any terms and conditions thou hast performed ? 
 Spurn the thought. Hear thy Lord, for mine own sake, the 
 dear Jesus blotted out thy sins with his blood. The loving Father 
 blots them out for the sake of his justice and truth. The gra- 
 cious Spirit blots them out of the conscience, for the glory of the 
 Father and the Son, and because he is the comforter of poor sin- 
 ners. O what boundless bliss is here ! Believe, rejoice and love. 
 
 Here is most joyful j;;os])cl news, Then gjive thy Lord his glory due. 
 
 Sin's blotted and forg^ot ! Rejoice, adore and love, 
 
 Gil this sweet word, my soul now muse, Thou art as safe from sin and woe, 
 •Till comfort ihou has: got. As those in heav'n above. M 
 
DECEMBER 5. 343 
 
 Put me in rejnembrance: let us plead together: declare 
 thou, that thuu maijest be justified. ...Isa. xliii. 26. 
 
 The Lord had just laid open the rich love of his s^racious heart 
 to poor sinners, in full^^ blotting out their transgressions, and in not 
 remembering their sins. To keep down their pride and exalt the 
 riches of his mercy, he tells them plainly, I do all this for mine own 
 sake,:- but he knows what is in man: he sees the devilish pride 
 of our hearts, and how many would reject his free declaration, and 
 •will not accept of free-grace mercy, by free-gift of love, without 
 n»oney and without price: such will have some hand in procuring 
 pardon and justification, by fulfilling terms and performing condi- 
 tions. These words may be considered, 1st. As a sarcasm upon such 
 persons, and a derision upon their notions. Says the Lord, put me 
 in rcmemberance. What spiritual act could you do when dead in 
 trespasses and sins, in order to get life ? What good works sprung 
 out of your flesh, in which dwells no good thing? Remind me of 
 your power to will and to do what I commanded, and how you have 
 done all things perfectly well to my glory. Let us plead together : 
 let us come into open court and try this matter. Declare thou thy 
 own righteousness: for which of all thy good works dost thou chal- 
 lenge my grace, and a right to be justified? Verily, if thou canst 
 face this ; as the prophet says, " thou hast a whore's forehead, and 
 refusest to be ashamed.".... Jer. iii. 3. But, 2d. We mav consider 
 them as spoken to the Lord's people. Put me in remembrance of 
 my free declaration of full pardon: believe it: pray the Spirit to 
 apply the sense and comfort of it to thy conscience : give me no 
 rest till I have made thee thus happy. Let us plead together : con- 
 fess your vileness: own your wretchedness: acknowlcgc your sin- 
 fulness: I will plead, my grace reigns over all the aboundings of 
 sin, through righteousness unto life.... Rom. v. 2 1. Declare thou 
 that thou mayest be justified : plead at my throne what I am ever 
 well pleased with, the blood and righteousnes of my beloved Sou 
 only; and thou shalt be justified from all things, have my peace in 
 thy conscience, which passeth all understanding: be filled with joy 
 and peace in believing, and abound in hope by the power of the Holy 
 Ghost. Now, is not all this amazing love and these gracious deal- 
 ings enough to make thee ashamed of thy folly and slowness of 
 heart to believe the truths of a covenant God in Christ ? 
 
 Grace reigns and over sin abounds, O for an heart of faith and love, 
 And justifies the soul; [founds, Rejoicing in the Lord, 
 
 While grace our pride and lust con- And imitate the blest above, 
 
 It makes poor sinners whole. Singing his praise abroad. M 
 
344 DECEMBER 6. 
 
 The laiv ivorkcth icraUi....Rom. iv. 15. 
 
 Our misery as poor sinners is greatly heightened For want of 
 duly considering the end and design of the holy law, and of the ever- 
 UsLing gospel ; and through our blending them together in our con- 
 sciences. Consider what is meant by the law working wrath. 1st. 
 *'Sin is the transgression of the law.".... I John iii. 4. 2d. " The 
 law was added because of transgressions. "....Gal. iii. 19. 3d. *' By 
 the law is the knowledge of sin." Therefore, 4lh. " By the deeds 
 of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight."... .Rom. iii. 20.* 
 For, 5th. "It is a ministration of condemnation.".... 2 Cor. iii. 9, 
 *' Cursed is every one that continued! not in all things which are 
 written in the book of the law to<lo them. "....Gal. iii. 10. Hence, is it 
 any marvel that we, who are transgressors of the law, and cursed 
 by the law, if we examine ourselves by the law and judge of our- 
 selves according to the law, that it should work in us a sense of 
 wrath, a dread of damnation, and a fearful looking for of judgment 
 and of fiery indignation ? Therefore we must see and own, that by 
 nature we are children of wrath even as others, deserve hell as well 
 as others, and can do no more to save ourselves than others. Now, 
 have we thus seen ourselves under the law, and felt the law working 
 wrath in our consciences I If so, this is the certain consequence, 
 " Our mouth is stopped : we are become, (O awful word !) guilty 
 before God."-...Rom. iii. 19. 
 
 2d. How do we expect to get relief in our guilty minds and ease 
 from wrath in our consciences? For as the law works wrath, sin 
 works deceitfully in our proud natures. Dear spirit of truth, leave 
 us not in this momentous point to seek death in the error of our 
 lives : either to palliate our sins, to extenuate the rigor of the law, 
 or to strive by any future obedience to the law to quell its wrath. 
 O blessed comforter I lead us to our law-fuifilling head: shew us 
 tliat Jesus hath suffered all the penalties of the law for us ; took 
 away all its wrath and curse from us, and obtained everlasting peace 
 with God for us. Here then it is manifest, whether we have receiv- 
 ed the Spirit of truth, or are blinded by the spirit of error. If we 
 attempt to set up any works or doings of our own, to get relief from 
 the wrath of the law, sin blinds our eyes and deceives our hearts. 
 If we llee from the wrath of the law to the grace of Christ, we are 
 enlightened by the Spirit of truth : " For the law of the Spirit of life 
 in Christ Jesus, hath made us free from the law of sin and death." 
 ....Rom. vili. 2. 
 
 A sinner, curs'd by holy law. Let conscience find in thee sweet peace 
 
 1 flee from wvath to come : From all law's threat'ning wrath: 
 
 Lord, fill my refuge soul with joy, I'll glory in thy righteousness, 
 
 While here below I roam. Tho' law works sin and death. M. 
 
DECEMBER 7. 345 
 
 If we sin zcilfiilli/ after that ice have j^eccived the knoiv- 
 ledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice 
 for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment 
 and fieri) indignation, lehich shall devour the adversa- 
 ries.... Heb. X. 26, 27. 
 Awful words! enough to make one's heart tremble, excite a 
 holy fear, and provoke a godly jealousy. Wilful sins bring on woe- 
 ful complaints. Yes, says a soul, I find it so by woeful experience. 
 I have received the knowledge of the truth of salvation by Christ 
 Jesus, and O what have I done! Sinned wilfully, and now I must 
 be damned eternally ; there is no hope nor help ; my sin is unpar- 
 donable ; there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain 
 fearful looking for destruction ; I am shut up in despair ; I wait 
 with terror my dreadful doom. Stop a little : write not such bitter 
 things against thyself. True, thou art condemned for thy past wick- 
 ed conduct : it is fit you should take shame to yourself, humble 
 yourself, and repent as in dust and ashes; but this text never was 
 intended to drive to despair, even the wilful sinner, who sees and is 
 sorry for his vile conduct. Consider, if every wilful sin is unpar- 
 donable, after a person has received the knowledge of the truth, 
 the whole world must be damned : not one sinner would be saved. 
 If so, that word could not be true, "The blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin."....l John i. 7. 'J'hen backsliding sinners 
 must perish without hope. God himself must prove false to his 
 •word; "I will heal their backslidings."....Hosea xiv. 4. And 
 Christ must be a false prophet when he declares, " All manner 
 OF SIN AND blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. "....Matt, 
 xii. 3 1 . Consider well two words in this text. I st. There remaineth 
 no more sacrifice for sins. Now this wilful sin is rejecting the one 
 sacrifice of Jesus, treading under foot the Son of God, accounting 
 his blood an unholy thing, and expecting to be saved some other 
 way. Here is total apostacy and final unbelief; whereas your guilty 
 conscience seeks no sacrifice beside the one offering of the Son of 
 God. 2d. Mind, it is the adversary who is to be devoured. Is 
 your heart set against Christ ? Do you turn from him ? Do you de- 
 sire to have nothing to do with him ? O no I I'll answer for you, the 
 one desire of your soul is to be pardoned through him, accepted in 
 him, and saved by him. Then you are not an adversary to Christ : 
 you shall not be devoured. This text no more belongs to you, than 
 to angels in heaven : but this does, " This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
 save sinners."....! Tim. i. 15. 
 
 Vol. II. U u 
 
546 DECEMBER 8. 
 
 He ivho catetJi me, even he shall live by me. ...John vi. 57. 
 
 Why is the meek Lamb so very wrath against self-righteous 
 people, while he is nothing but love and tenderness to poor sensible 
 sinners ? Why does he stamp the highest indignity and contempt 
 on the character of the former, while he receives publicans and har- 
 lots with open arms ? Is it not hard, because a man hugs his own 
 righteousness and perfection in his heart, that the Saviour should 
 reject him ? Are we not to do good, to be very good, yea, to strive 
 to be as righteous as an angel ? Yes, we are to have a better righte- 
 ousness than angels ever had : but if we think that righteousness is 
 to be obtained by us, to cover our wicked nature, to recommend us 
 to God, and to justify us either first or last, in whole or in part, we 
 deceive ourselves.. ..the truth is not in us....there is the pride of the 
 devil at the bottom of all this: " Woe unto us, we are full, but we 
 shall hunger.". ...Luke vi. 25. If full of a proud conceit and high 
 opinion of our own righteousness, our souls will famish and starve: 
 " The full soul loatheth the honey-comb.".. ..Prov. xxvii. 7. It has 
 no appetite to feed upon Christ, and to live by him, as its only food 
 and cloathing : " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, for they shall be filled.".. ..Matt. v. 6. That soul is tru- 
 ly convinced of sin, by the Spirit, who sees he has no righteousness 
 of his ov\ n ; is sensible that he must perish everlastingly, without a 
 perfect, spotless righteousness ; knows this is only in Christ, and 
 therefore hungers and thirsts after his righteousness. This is the 
 soul who eats Christ, feeds upon him, and shall live by him. \ 
 hungry soul is a self-emptied soul. Is yours such ? Does it go out 
 after Christ as a hungry appetite does after food ? Will nothing sa- 
 tisfy you but the flesh and blood, the righteousness and atonement 
 of the Son of God? Bless the Lord, you have David's experience : 
 " I will go in the strength of the Lord God." He fed on Christ and 
 got his strength from him : " I will make mention of thy righteous- 
 ness, even of thine only. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I 
 sing unto thee, and my soul which thou hast redeemed. "....Psalm 
 Ixxi. 23. Holy Paul's language is yours : " I count all things but 
 loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus my I^ord. I esteem all 
 things but dung that I may win Christ. The whole and sole desire 
 of your soul is to be found in him. "....Phil. iii. 9. You have the 
 sure word of Christ. You shall live by ml. Live by his grace in 
 time : live with him in glory to all eternity. 
 
 'Tis sweet to live and daily feed Lord, may I love thee more and more 
 
 On Jesus flesh and blood : For ev'ry word thou saith : 
 
 J-Iis flesh and blood are drink indeed, Increase my hunger and my pow'r 
 
 To all the souU he's lov'd. To feed on thee b/ faith. M. 
 
DECEMBER 9. 347 
 
 / xvill lift up m\) hands in thy name. ...Psalm Ixiii. 4. 
 
 From the little carnal men see of the conduct of saints, they 
 pronounce them fools and madmen : but were they to follow them to 
 their closets, and be witnesses to what passes there, between God and 
 their souls, they would deem it the excess of folly and the height 
 of madness. Two christian friends Avere conversing together of the 
 plague of their hearts, the working of hypocrisy and evil in their 
 best duties: an unconverted brother of one of them overheard and 
 upbraided them, saying, " I always thought you were two hypo- 
 crites, now I have heard it from your mouths. I have no wandering 
 thoughts at church ; I always go with a good heart." " Brother," 
 replied the christian, putting a piece of money in his hand, " that 
 is your own, if, when you go to church next, you will watch your 
 heart and tell me honestly if vou found no wandering thoughts." 
 The poor man faithfully returned the money, and frankly owned, 
 "I was scarce got into church, but I thought how many looms might 
 be set to work in it." He was a weaver. O what an awful thing it 
 is to be ignorant of one's own heart! And yet the knowledge of its 
 desperate wickedness and superlative deceitfulness, often dejects and 
 puts disciples to the stand. Here is a blessed remedy at all times, 
 THE LOVING KINDNESS OF THE LoRD. This is better than life : 
 this super-abounds all the aboundings of sin in us : this enables us 
 to say joyfully, "I will bless the Lord while I live:" and with 
 boldness, " 1 will lift up my hands in thy name." In our work and 
 warfare, against all our spiritual enemies, there is a blessed name 
 which is above every other name, to animate us with courage, even 
 the name Jesus. However dejected or despised, can we think of, 
 believe in, and look to that glorious name, person, work, and sal- 
 vation with which God is well pleased, without lifting up our hands 
 with comfort and joy ? Here I am to-night, a poor sinner, empty of 
 all good, full of all evil. No worth, work or excellency to recom- 
 mend me to God, yet will I lift up my empty hand to receive a gift 
 from the God of all grace. O that under a sight of my ruined 
 state and helpless impotency, the Spirit may teach me that heavenly 
 art, " I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make men- 
 tion of thy righteousness, even of thine only," O Jesu.... Psalm 
 Ixxi. 16. It is from hence that feeble knees are strengthened, hands 
 which hang down are lifted up, and fearful hearts made strong. 
 " Consider Christ Jesus.".. ..Heb. iii. I. 
 
 What name so sweet to sinners' ears, My hands to thee I will lift op, 
 As that of Christ my king ? A blessin; to receive, 
 
 Tis this repels our doubts and fears, From thee my Christ, my only hope i 
 And joy of soul doth bring. Upon thee I will live- M. 
 
348 DECEMBER 10. 
 
 Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear y 
 but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, ivhereby 
 we crij, Abba, Father.. ..Bom. viii. 15^ 
 
 The Spirit of God never was, never is, nor ever can be the 
 spirit of bondage to any soul : some have asserted it, but it is a 
 mistake: it is contrary to his name, the cojmforter : he is a free 
 spirit, a spirit of liberty to the soul : it is inconsistent with his 
 office : he takes of the things of Christ, and shews them to us : 
 testifies of Christ: brings us into the liberty, of Christ: enables us 
 to glory in the adoption of children, and to call God Father, in the 
 faith of Christ. When he convinces of sin, it is not to bring the 
 soul into bondage, but to break the bondage of sin, of the law, of 
 death and of satan in the conscience, and to cast away the cords 
 thereof, that the soul may be unitedJio Christ by faith. In all this 
 he is THE COMFORTER. What then is this spirit of bondage? It is 
 the spirit of the law : just as the Egyptians made the children of 
 Israel to serve with rigor, and made their lives bitter with hard 
 bondage.. ..Exod. i. 14. So does the law all those who are under it. 
 Do what they would, they could never please, never get a good 
 word from their task-masters. So let the poor legal sinner labour, 
 tug and toil from day to day to fulfil the lav/, and be made righte- 
 ous by obedience to it, yet, like hard hearted Pharaoh, it says, " ye 
 are idle, ye are idle," pay me what thou owest me, my full due : 
 I am not satisfied : you have not fulfilled my righteous demands : 
 you are still cursed : thus a legal spirit is always in bondage : his 
 soul is always subject to fear. Though he works like a slave, yet 
 he gets nothing but slavish dread of Ciod, and fear of being damned 
 at last ; for the law works nothing but wrath in the conscience.... 
 Rom. iv. 15. This is fearful bondage indeed. Glory to the spirit 
 of adoption for bringing us from it, and enabling us to cry, Abba, 
 Father. How does he effect this? We receive the spirit of adoption 
 by the faith of Jesus : we see a righteous law perfectly fulfilled by 
 the one obedience of Christ's life : by this, we sinners are made 
 righteous. ...Rom. v. 19. Here our hearts take refuge : through 
 this righteousness, the Spirit brings peace to our consciences: dis- 
 charges from the condemnation of the law : frees us from guilty 
 fears and terrors of God ; and instead thereof, breathes this precious 
 cry in our hearts, Abba, my loving, my adopted Father in Christ. 
 Now love takes place in the soul. Once a child of God, and for ever 
 so. The Spirit of adoption never becomes a spirit of bondage again : 
 but if you do not walk in faith and love, he may leave you to the 
 awful bondage of your own spirit, and under the terrors of a broken 
 law. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God."....Ephes. iv. 30. 
 
DECEMBER 11. 349 
 
 And the Lord spake unto Mosrs, face to face, as a man 
 speaketli unto his friend. ...Exod. xxxiii. 11. 
 
 In the sight of infidels, INIoses is as vile a hypocrite and as 
 great an enthusiast as ever existed. You see your calling brethren. 
 What shall be done unto the men whom the King of saints delights 
 to honor ? Treat them as the filth and ofV-scouring of all things, say 
 the world. Thank you, ye sons of folly : you give us an evident 
 token of our salvation, and that of God....Phil. i. 28. If Moses 
 is not to be credited, Christ is to be rejected. He puts his cause 
 upon the testimony of Moses, " Had ye believed Moses, ye would 
 have believed me, for he wrote of me."... .John v. 46. He was a 
 friend of the bridegroom : he was admitted to close and iutimate 
 converse with him before he appeared in flesh. Our Saviour saith 
 to all his disciples, " ye are my friends. "....John xv. 14. He ad- 
 mits them into sweet fellowship and free communion with himself. 
 A precious minister of Christ, late on earth, now in glory, says in 
 his diary, "I walked in the fields, and conversed much with our 
 Saviour, about the wickedness of my heart," Sec. Paul says, 
 " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty:" freedom from 
 the veil of nature's blindness and ignorance : liberty, to draw nigh 
 to God, and to pour out our hearts before him. lor, we all: ail 
 true believers in Christ, "behold as in a glass," \.\\c clear glass of 
 the gospel, " the glory of the Lord," in ihe face of Jesus Christ, 
 full of grace and truth to poor sinners. That is God's greatest 
 glory ; that is our highest nicrcy. This unspeakable privilege be- 
 lievers in common are admitted to. This constitutes our heaven 
 below. It creates heaven in the soul. It brings Ciod and the soul 
 near : yea, face to face. God's face is towards us in Christ : our 
 face is towards him by the faith of Christ. His countenance smiles 
 upon us ; that makes us of a joyful heart : " JMy sheep hear my 
 voice," says Christ.. .. John x. 27. Yes, saith the soul, " it is the 
 voice of my beloved. "....Song v. 2. See then your calling, O be- 
 liever, and thou my soul : live not below your exalted privilege : 
 draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Speak humbly to 
 God, of your sin, misery, and wretchedness : he will speak graciously 
 to you, of his love and salvation in his Son. " I said not unlo the seed 
 of Jacob, seek ye me in vain : I the Lord speak in righteousness." 
 "Am mighty to save.".... Isa. xlv. 19. Ixiii. 1. O the blessedness of 
 thus beholding the face of the Lord ! We arc changed into the same 
 image, by the Lord the Spirit. For God hath shined in our hearts 
 to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face 
 of Jesus Christ....2 Cor. iv. 6. 
 
550 DECEMBER 12. 
 
 Cofi a woynan forget her sucking child, that she should 
 not have compassion on the son of her icomb? Yea, they 
 may forget, yet will I not forget tliee....Isa. xlix. 15. 
 
 Lord, remember David and all his afflictions. ...Psalm cxxxii. 1. 
 How comprehensive is this short petition I What a holy boldness, 
 ■what a filial confidence breathes in it 1 Yes, says a poor doubting, 
 dejected soul, but it cam.e from an eminent saint, but I am a miser- 
 able sinner : I am afiaid the Lord hath forgotten and forsaken me. 
 Is your mind pained at the thoughts of this? That is a godly sorrow, 
 which the wicked are strangers to. This is one of the afflictions of 
 the righteous. Lord remember me, is the prayer of faith to a 
 covenant Cod. Here is a precious cordial, a heart-reviving answer 
 from the Lord. Look at that woman with her smiling babe at her 
 breast : see how fond she is of it, how delighted with it : it is part 
 of herself: she bore it with pains, and brought it into the world with 
 labour : its innocent look and helpless cry call for her tenderest af- 
 fection and regard. Can she forget it ? Can she refuse to shew 
 compassion to it ? Will she neglect to administer to its wants, and 
 to preserve from danger the dear and tender son of her womb ? Is 
 it possible I Here is an image in nature which strikes one with the 
 most tender affection, to set forth the love and care of the Lord to his 
 people : but strong and striking as it is, it fails. There have been, 
 there may be such monsters in nature, who have not had compas- 
 sion upon the off'spring of their womb. Therefore, knowing 
 the fears and surmises of our nature, the Father of love and the 
 friend of sinners, as it were, corrects himself, and says, " yea, 
 ihey may forgct"....the comparison fails....this image, yea, all na- 
 ture is too weak to borrow a representation from. Yet will I not 
 Forget THKE. O, may faith catch, fasten, and live upon this pre- 
 cious word. O, may love be excited and joy increased by it. As 
 thoiigh our dear Lord had said, " I have loved thee with an ever- 
 lasting love," saved thee with an everlasting salvation, called thee 
 l)y my grace, made thee know thy poverty and vileness, thy hope- 
 less and helpless state : shall I ever he unmindful of thy distress, 
 deaf to tliy cry, andunwilling to relieve thy wants ? Impossible! Is 
 the tender infant part of its mother ? Remember, " wc are mem- 
 l)ers of Christ's Ijody, of his flesh and of his bones. "....Ephes. v. 30. 
 In pain and sorrow did the mother bring the infant forth ? O, what 
 agonies did it cost our Lord to redeem us ! Has he been at the pains 
 to bring us to himself for salvation? After all this, will he leave us 
 to perish by sin, to be overcome by the world, or to be a prey to 
 satan ? If we think so, we must sadly forget him who says, " Be- 
 hold I have graven thee iqjon the palms of my hands.".... Isa. 
 xlix. IG. 
 
DECEMBER 15. 351 
 
 Kaijy hut, O mauy ivlio art tJtou that repliest against 
 GodF....llom. ix. 20. 
 
 The sovereignty of God, in dispensing; his f^race to whom lie 
 plcaseth, which he oweth to none, ever was a bone of contention. 
 Unawakened people, with self-righteous hearts and stubborn free- 
 will pride, rise with Indignation of spirit, daringly call ia question the 
 ■ways of God to man, and impiously reply against God, as though he 
 had not an absolute right to do what he will with his own, and con- 
 fer his favors when, and on whom he pleases. '' Ye shall be as 
 gods," says the father of lies. ...Gen. iii. 5. Our first parents be- 
 lieved him. They have tainted our whole race with this proud lie. 
 Hence the poet most sarcastically says to repliers against God, 
 
 Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, 
 
 Rejudge his justice, be the God of God. 
 Paul meets such : he puts a question to them : he demands an an- 
 swer from them. Who art thou? The Lord in the sovereignty ot 
 grace, and with the glory of his majesty, issues his royal proclama- 
 tion from heaven, " I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy : 
 and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Now 
 who ? What art thou who darest to reply ? What ! Reply against 
 God ? What thou, O man ; worm of tlie earth : a creature of a day : 
 born like a w ild ass' colt, without understanding : by nature a child 
 of wrath, dead in trespasses and sins, blind to thy own existence: 
 thou vain fool, thou child of pride, and son of folly, dost thou exalt 
 thy ignorance, and display thy enmity, by opening thy mouth 
 against God, his truths and his ways ? This is one of the severest 
 reproofs of the holy Spirit in the whole Bible : improve it. Remem- 
 ber there is " a woe to him who striveth with his Maker."....Isa. 
 xlv. 9. Know, you have nothing you can properly call your own, but 
 sin : that is the parent of ignorance and pride. Wilt thou exalt 
 these against the wisdom and grace of God ? Shall our corrupt rea- 
 son reply against God, call him to an account of his ways, and say 
 unto him, what doest thou ? Consider, have we not forfeited all right 
 to God's favor ? Does any good thing dwell in our nature to entitle 
 lis to his mercy ? O fall down and bless God for the unmerited gift 
 of his Son Jesus. Adore the riches of his abundant mercy, that 
 " at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of 
 grace ; and if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise 
 grace is no more grace." 8cc....Rom. xi. 5, 6. 
 
 ^yhile others wrangle and reply, Dear Spirit, teach my sqal the truth 
 
 Against thy sov'reign ways, OLord: As it in Christ my Saviour is: 
 
 O bring my spirit down from high, O thou, my God, guide of my yomh, 
 
 To feed by faith upon thy word I Preserve from proud rebellious lies. M- 
 
352 DECEMBER 14. 
 
 Hoxo iJien can I do this greatxvickedness, mid sin against 
 God?. ...Gen. xxxix. 9. 
 
 Look now at young Joseph, and say, is not this the finest reason- 
 ing against a fierce temptation ? IJere is a youth in the bloom of life, 
 in the vigor of nature, passions ran high, affections strong, a violent 
 temptation presents, a fair seducer solicits ; yet, amidst all this, 
 with the coolness of age, with the grace of fttith he reasons, and 
 with a holy fortitude of soul he withstands and overcomes the sin. 
 Here is a blessed lesson for you, ye youth ; nor less instructive to 
 me, and to you, ye aged. Every age of life has its peculiar temp- 
 tations. Ye children of special grace, ye contenders for its glorious 
 doctrines, consider, 1st. What is implied in this, sin against God? 
 Would not Joseph have sinned against the best of masters, against 
 the wife of his master, against his own soul? Doubtless. But his 
 God is above and beyond all other objects. The love of his gracious 
 God was in his heart : ihe fear of his covenant God was before his 
 eyes : the glory of the God of his salvation was near and dear to his 
 soul. O believer, remember when tempced to commit sin, it is a 
 great Avickedness against the everlasting love of God your Father; 
 the dying love of God your Redeemer; the reviving love of God 
 your comforter. Though sin cannot sink your soul into a hell of 
 endless torment, yet it will surely bring a hell of misery into your 
 conscience. Remember, it is against God : look to him : flee from 
 sin: with every temptation God will make a way to escape, that ye 
 may be able to bear it : God is faithful, " He will not suffer you to 
 be tempted, above that ye are able."....l Cor. x. 13. Consider, 2d. 
 The force of this reasoning. How can I sin ? Lay a peculiar empha- 
 sis upon God and I. Here it is not criminal nor arrogant to intro- 
 duce that little letter of great sound, /. What a peculiar spirit of 
 the fire of generous love and holy energy is there in this question, 
 how can / sin ? Is it possible that /, hell-deserving, yet heaven- 
 beloved /, can wilfully and deliberately sin? /sin against my God ? 
 Can / set at nought his love, /wilfully violate his law, /deliberately 
 defy his power ? Impossible. His grace teaches me to deny all un- 
 godliness : the love of Christ constrains from it. If lusts prevail, 
 the sense of love is lost. O, let love abound over lust : Jesus save 
 me : this is the reasoning, this the prayer of genuine faith and gene- 
 rous love. " Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are 
 not under the law but under grace."... .Rom. vi. 1 4. "The grace of 
 (iod teaches us. "....Tit. ii. 12. 
 
 W'liat soul on earth can sin witlistand, Lord, then thy saving grace impart, 
 \Vhen suited to his lust, \Vhen iin invades my soul, 
 
 Unless upheld by God's right hand ? Let love be strong within my heart. 
 For mail Is sinful dust. And I'uith my pow'rs controul. M. 
 
DECEMBER 15. 55S 
 
 Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom 
 of God..., Mark iv. 11. 
 
 When the Son of God came from heaven to earth, then was 
 the mystery of heaven revealed, and the khigdom of God made 
 manifest to the sons of men. What, to all of them? No : many 
 when Christ was on earth, and ever since, have neither eyes to see, 
 ears to hear, nor hearts to imdcrstand the mystery of the kingdom 
 of God. The god of this world Ijlinds their eyes, stops their ears, 
 and shuts their hearts against spiritual mysteries ; and they are 
 honest enough to proclaim it with their tongues ; saying, where myste- 
 ries begin, there religion ends. Lord, why am not I left in natural 
 blindness, ignorance, and stupidity of soul ? O why me, Lord, and 
 not others ? ist. The mystery of the kingdom of God is that re- 
 vealed truth, that the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and 
 God the Holy Ghost, will get everlasting honor and glory to all 
 the attributes and perfections of the godhead, by the incarnate Je- 
 sus : in the salvation of cursed, miserable sinners, in setting up 
 the kingdom of God in their hearts upon the ruins of sin, and by 
 the destruction of satan : " This is the mystery of godliness, God 
 manifest in the flesh."....! Tim. iii. 16. This mystery, •' angels 
 desire to look into."....l Pet. i. 12. O my soul, O my fellow-sin- 
 ners, we are much more concerned in it than they. Let us pry 
 into it daily, with greatest earnestness and deepest attention. 2d. 
 -"What is it to know this mystery ? It is spiritually, savingly and 
 experimentally to see it, understand the grace and mercy of it, to 
 believe its suitableness to us ; our want of it, the hope, peace, and 
 joy which are brought to our souls by it ; so as heartily to approve 
 of God's bringing an atonement for our sins, righteousness for our 
 justification, and salvation to our souls, by his beloved Son, the 
 MAN Christ Jesus. 3d. How do we know this ? By the revelation 
 of the word and inspiration of the Spirit. It is given us to know 
 it. The Spirit opens our eyes to see it, and our hearts to under- 
 stand and believe it, as revealed in his word. 4th. Who ? Even 
 ALL whom the Lord shall call. In the days of his flesh, Jesus cal- 
 led unto him whom he would.. ..Mark iii. 13. So in the days of the 
 Spirit's power, he enlightens whom he will to know the mystery of 
 the kingdom of God. 5th. We know the sweet " fellowship of this 
 mystery. "....Eph. iii. 9. Our heaits are in love with the doctrines 
 of grace, and our aff'ections swayed by them, for we understand 
 them and our judgments approve of them : thus we have joyful fel- 
 lowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in the truth, 
 through the grace of the Spirit. The more we know of this mys- 
 tery, the more comfort. Study the love of Christ, that ye may be 
 filled with all the fulness of God. ...Eph. iii. 18. 
 Vol. II. W w 
 
554 DECEMBER 16. 
 
 What profit is it, that ive have kept liis ordinances^ and 
 ivalked mournfully before the Lord of hosts f'....MaL 
 lii. 14. 
 
 These words were spoken to the carnal Jews. They may be 
 applied to us; for the filthy leaven of the proud Pharisee works in 
 all our natures, at least I know one who finds it does. What does 
 it produce ? Hard thoughts of God and stout words against him. 
 We are apt to arraign his conduct towards others and think he deals 
 rather hardly with us. 1st. *' We call the proud happy." In a dark 
 tried, tenipted, deserted hour, when we see the poor, proud sons 
 of pride and folly ranting and revelling in all the gay scenes of 
 mirth and jollity, we are apt to look at them, think of them, and 
 ch'aw such conclusions from them as these : well, surely these peo- 
 ple are happier in their ways than I am in mine ; they are stran- 
 gers to my heart-burdens and soul-distresses ; mirth sits on their 
 countenance while grief and sorrow weigh me down. This was 
 the experience of David, Job, Asaph, and the prophets : we fre- 
 ciuenlly find them at times sorely distressed about this very thing. 
 The chief of sinners, and the least of all saints, who now writes, 
 has also been often tried and tempted in this matter. 2d. " We say, 
 Ihey who work wickedness are set up." It staggers our reason to 
 see the openly notorious and ungodly flourish in great esteem and 
 abundance ; while I think, if I am a child of God, I am despised and 
 can b\it just get the necessaries of life, and those with hard labour 
 and much care. 3d. " Those who tempt God are even delivered." 
 If they get into troubles and perplexities, though they daringly pro- 
 voke God to his face, yet they find friends enough to deliver them, 
 viiile I combat my troubles daily and no man cares for my soul. And 
 therefore, Ith. The words of the text are taken up, " What profit 
 is it," Sec. O, my soul I lie low before the Eord ; be ashamed of thy 
 base, carnal reasoning against, and unbelieving thoughts of thy 
 God. What profit ? Pride avaunt. Look not to thy keeping his or- 
 dinances and walking mournfully in deep humiliation before the 
 I^rd, yet do both constantly ; but look to a covenant God in Christ.... 
 look at the precious, free-grace promises which are in him. ...look 
 to THE coMfORTKR, to rcccive freely out of the fulness of Jesus, 
 love and salvation. ...look not at others with an eye of envy, but look 
 at thyself with an eye of astonishment, and adore the distinguish- 
 ing love of the Lord. \Vhal if thou hast not expected comforts in 
 tl«c way ? What if thou walkest mournfully all the way ? Yet thou 
 ait blessed, and hast blessed promises to support thee : " Blessed 
 are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted, "....Matt. v. 4. 
 Mi«d that precious word : they who sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
 He that weepelh, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again 
 with rejoicing. ...Psalm cxxvi. 6. 
 
DECEMBER 17. 356 
 
 Mij beloved is vi inc.... Song ii. 16. 
 
 Here is a knowledge worth more than heaven and earth ; for 
 heaven and earth shall pass away, but this knowledge endureth for 
 ever. O happy souls, who are favored with it, give fresh glory to 
 your beloved to night. Ye who are seeking it, rejoice ; for he hath 
 said, " every one that seeketh findeth."....Matt. vii. 8. Happy Job 
 was favored with it when he was in heaviness through manifold temp- 
 tations, broken in the place of dragons, and covered with the shadow 
 of death : then he must have utterly fainted had he not believed. 
 Time was, when Job could suy, mv health, my wealth, my honors, my 
 children, m y comforts ; but these were all dead and gone : he haJ nothing 
 within nor without to stay his soul upon, but the word of the Lord and 
 the Lord revealed in the word. This was his support and his glory ; 
 though I have lost all things, I have my Redeemer still: he lives : 
 I know it : while he lives, I cannot die : as he has redeemed me, I 
 cannot perish : while I know it, I cannot despair : 1 will rejoice in 
 him, though I am stript of all things besides him. O, how does 
 the whole world lie fast asleep in the arms of the wicked one, with- 
 out the least thought of, or desire after the knowledge of this pre- 
 cious Redeemer ! But how many poor sinners are saying ! O that I 
 knew this dear Redeemer was mine : O that I could say, " I know 
 MV Redeemer liveth." Nothing in all the world could give me such 
 comfort as this. Bless the dear Spirit, for he hath given you pecu- 
 liar knowledge of Christ and special approbation of him. It is spe- 
 cial grace to see your misery as a sinner and your want of a Re- 
 deemer, and to make Christ the choice of your soul. You know, 
 you believe the Redeemer liveth. Why, all this is in consequence 
 of his love to you : he chose you : he loves you : he died for you : 
 he lives to pray for you : therefore he has blessed you, by sending 
 his Spirit to you. Why then should unbelief so prevail in you as to 
 keep you from honoring him, by claiming him as your beloved and 
 rejoicing in him as your friend ? O the unspeakable mercy to have 
 such a Redeemer 1 We have redemption through his blood, even 
 the forgiveness of sins: perfect peace with God and a sure title to 
 glory. Blessed be Ciod for Jesus Christ. O study the work, the 
 perfectly finished and everlastingly glorious work of Christ's re- 
 demption : believe his precious word of invitation, come unto me : 
 his precious promise is, I will give you rest. What could Christ 
 have done more than he hath to manifest his love to sinners ? Why 
 then should you or I, or any poor sinner be kept from claiming him 
 by faith, saying, this is my beloved and my friend ?... .Song v. 16, 
 
356 DECEMBER 18. 
 
 Take no thought, saying, zvhat shall ive eat? Or zvhat 
 shall we drink P Or zcherezcithal shall zve be clothed? 
 Matt. vi. 31. 
 
 The word of God is like a well drawn picture, which, whoever 
 looks at, thinks the eyes are towards him and fixed on him. There 
 is in Christ's word somewhat that suits our state under every cir- 
 cumstance and in all times and seasons. Pliny speaks of a rod of 
 myrtle, which if a traveller carries in his hand, he never grows 
 faint nor weary. Verily, Christ's word is like this rod of myrtle ; 
 for it beguiles our weary steps, smooths our rugged paths, braces 
 our weak nerves, animates our weary minds, resolves our unreason- 
 able doubts, forbids every anxious thought and tormenting care. 
 Christ would have our hearts simple in faith and our hope steadily 
 fixed on him, so as not to be running out in anxious cares about a 
 dying body and a perishing world. To cure this, let it suffice, that 
 your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things : 
 therefore be not of doubtful mind, as though ye were orphans, who 
 have no father to love you or provide for you : he directs our 
 thoughts to his kingdom, as our first and chief concern, and assures 
 us, all temporal things shall be added : or, as it were thrown into 
 the scale. If not for the body, so^ neither for the soul, should we 
 be of doubtful minds. Our Father hath made ample provision for 
 that also. 1st. " What shall we eat?" The most precious, heaven- 
 ly, soiil-nourishing food is set before iis in the gospel, the flesh 
 OF Christ which is meat indeed : " The word was made flesh, 
 and dwelt among us. "....John i. 14. On purpose that we might 
 feed on him and live by him. Says he, " he that eateth me, even 
 he shall live by me. "....John vi. 57. Believing on Christ is feeding 
 on him. Hath your heart fed on Christ to day by faith ? 2d. " What 
 shall we drink ?" The blood of Christ. His blood is drink indeed. 
 Says he, " He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwellcth 
 in me, and I in him." O, without this mutual in-dwelling, if we 
 have the most spacious dwelling, we are under wraih and curse ; 
 but if Christ be in us, and we in him, we dwell in God, in heaven, 
 in glory, by faith. Drink the precious, sin-atoning blood of Christ 
 by faith to-night, and be thankful. 3d. " Wherewithal shall we 
 be clothed ?" Poor naked sinner, the robe of righteousness, the gar- 
 ment of salvation, wrought out by the elder brother, is put upon 
 thee by thy heavenly Father. It is not only unto all, but upon 
 ALL who believe... .Rom. iii. 22. Remember the myrtle : carry 
 Christ's word in the hand of faith, " lest ye be wearied and faint in 
 your minds. "....Heb. xii. 3. 
 
 Our heavenly Father will provide Then turn your anxious thoughts to 
 
 What's needful and is best, In Jesus ever rest. [pray'rs, 
 
 M. 
 
DECEMBER 19. 35^ 
 
 Jesus said unto his discipks, if any man to ill come after 
 me, let him deny himself ....Matt. xvi. 24. 
 
 We are called to follow Christ in the RF.GF.xrRATioN,...Matt. 
 xix. 28. That is, in that new state of things, called " the time of 
 reformation. "....Heb. ix. 10. Wherein he has set all things right 
 between God and us sinners. Christ has not left us any thing to do, 
 whereby to satisfy divine justice and to fulfil the holy law, in order 
 to procure God's favor and a title to his kingdom ; but only to come 
 after him, to reap all the glorious spoils and victories of his law- 
 fulfilling life and sin-atoning death, in our perfect reconciliation to 
 God, justification before bim, acceptance and peace with him. O 
 soul, this knowledge is essential to thy following Christ in faith and 
 love : without this, you cannot come after him one step. Therefore 
 in love he bids thee deny thyself: a-5 though he had said, all^things 
 in the olfl creation of fallen nature are contrary to my spiritual king- 
 dom and oppose my reign in the heart, therefore, all in self must 
 be denied. Receive this in faith, as the command of love, to enjoy 
 peace and comfort in thy Lord. 1st. Thy carnal reason exalts itself 
 against the grace and truth of thy Lord : deny this. 2d. Thy self- 
 righteous pride of obtaining righteousness by works, opposes free 
 and full justification unto life, by the spotless righteousness of Christ: 
 renounce that. 3d. The selfish notion bf fulfilling terms and con- 
 ditions of salvation, is contrary to following Christ, as having 
 finished our salvation : disown that. 4th. Corrupt lusts will draw 
 away thy heart from following Christ, in the paths of holiness : 
 deny them. 5th. The pleasures of carnal sense attract the heart 
 from Christ : renounce them. 6th. Unbelief is an enemy to thy 
 Lord's love and truth : resist it : oppose thy Lord's word to it. 7th, 
 Doubts and fears that Christ will not receive thee ; will reject thee ; 
 th"t he will not save thee to the uttermost ; that thou mayest perish 
 at last, will prevent thy comfortably following Christ : reject them: 
 oppose his loving promise to them. Lastly, deny, renounce and 
 disown the notion, that thou hast any power of thy own to deny 
 thyself in following Christ and to persevere to the end. Let this 
 ever be thy prayer, " Draw me, I will run after thee. "....Song. i. 4. 
 Christ's power of drawing is our strength for denying and running: 
 therefore, when Christ says deny thyself, look not on him as a 
 rigorous law-giver, to enslave thee under bondage ; but as a precious 
 law-fulfiller, a loving Saviour, and grace bestowed on miserable sin- 
 ners. He would have us live totally out of corrupt nature and car- 
 nal self, be quite happy in him, and comfortable in following of 
 him : for he saith, " I that speak in righteousness, am mighty to 
 save."....Isa. Ixiii. 1. Profession is easy to hypocrites : self-denial 
 is the evidence of real disciples. 
 
358 DECEMBER 20. 
 
 Under iieath are the everlasting arms....Deut. xxxiii. 27. 
 
 It is storied of Anteus, that every time Hercules threw him 
 to the ground, he rose up the stronger ; for he got new strength by- 
 touching his mother, the earth. This is true of the christian : the 
 more he is assaulted and thrown down by the enemy, he falls into 
 the Lord's everlasting arms and gets fresh strength : he cannot be 
 thrown down lower than God suiters ; for " underneath are God's 
 everlasting arms." His word is full of grace, his arms almighty, 
 his love everlasting. Here is the wisdom, here the glory of the 
 Liord's people, to look from themselves, to go out of themselves 
 for safety and salvation. For they rest upon God's word: they be- 
 lieve the Lord to be all that to them which he has said. This is 
 living by fivith ; honoring the Lord's truth ; glorifying the Saviour's 
 natne. Why are we told? " Underneath are the everlasting arms." 
 Because we know and see ourselves deserving of hell, and liable to 
 fall into the pit of destruction. Therefore the Lord would have our 
 hearts strong in him, and in the power of his might, that we might 
 not fear the face of any enemy, nor be dismayed under the sense of 
 our oAvn vileness and insufficiency to stand. The spouse of Christ 
 thus sweetly expresses her comfort and safety, " His left hand is un- 
 der rjiy head : his right hand doth embrace me. "....Cant. ii. 6. Signi- 
 fying that she was encircled in the arms of her loving Saviour : both 
 hands were engaged for her safety and support. O drooping be- 
 liever I Why dost thou hang down thy head ? Why those dejecting 
 doubts and distressing fears ? Look back to the everlasting covenant : 
 there everlasting love presided. Then wast thou viewed, and thy 
 case provided for. Look up, there sits a God of love on a throne of 
 grace ; there stands thy blessed advocate, Jesus, ever pleading thy 
 cause. Look underneath, there are the everlasting arms to sustain 
 and support thee. What power then shall prevail against thee? 
 Neither sin, death or hell, can snatch tliec out of the everlasting 
 arms of thy almighcy God, thy reconciled Father : out of the loving 
 arms of thy gracious Redeemer: out of the powerful arms of the 
 Holy Ghost, thy sanctifier. Everlasting safety is in everlasting arms. 
 Here is a covenant declaration. Exercise the covenant grace of 
 faith upon this text. 1st. " The eternal God is thy refuge." Flae 
 to him in distress. 2d. His everlasting arms are underneath. Re- 
 joice in thy safety. 3d. He will thrust out every enemy before thee, 
 and speak destruction to them. Happy art thou, O believer ! Who 
 is like unto thee, saved by thy Lord ? 
 
 O Lonl. I bless thee for thy word, Which does such daily strength afford. 
 To build my faith upon ; My heav'nly race to run. M. 
 
DECEMBER 21. 359 
 
 Keep thy heart with all diligence.... Prov. iv. 23. 
 
 Camden reports, that "Redwald king of the East-Saxons, the 
 first prince of this nation who was baptized, yet in the same church 
 allowed an altar for Christ, and another for the heathen idols." 
 How many professors imitate him. Their hearts are not whole with 
 Christ: they are sons of folly. This is a charge of wisdom to all 
 her children: consider there is but one object can make your heart 
 happy ; there are a thousand that promise happiness, but only give 
 misery : keep thy heart in (the sense of) the love of God....Jude, 2 1. 
 Give all diligence to this blessed end : unless you do, vanity may 
 prevail in the mind, error in the understanding, pcrverscness in the 
 will, the affections may be inordinately set upon other objects than 
 thy Lord, and so thy conscience will contract fresh guilt. Then 
 thou mayest be left to bemoan a hard heart and an absent Cod: 
 darkness may surround thee ; fears and terrors haunt thee ; the ghosts 
 of long-departed sins may arise and distress thee ; the prospect of 
 death and eternity appear horrible to thee ; the day of judgment most 
 dreadful, while satan triumphs OTer thee, with,'ther2, t here, so 
 would I have it.' Then may thy heart upbraid thee, all this is come 
 upon thee because thou wasi not diligent to watch its motions, to 
 keep out the enemy, and to keep up sweet communion and holy fel- 
 lowship with thy best friend, thy loving Saviour. O, say not with 
 some, (who have more of the notion of Christianity in the liead than 
 the experience of it in the heart). Why all this legal stuff about 
 keeping the heart? Hath not the Lord said, "I will keep it night 
 and day, lest any hurt it ?"....Isa. xxvii. 3. Yes, blessed be his name, 
 he has. Would you therefore abuse his love ? Behold I shew you 
 a mystery. But it is the mystery of iniquity, which works in such, 
 causing them to oppose the declarations and promises of the Lord, 
 to his commands and exhortations : the former arc taken up as a plea 
 for such cursed, corrupt notions. Because you depend on the Lord's 
 providence for preservation, would you be careless of the doors of 
 your house, and not use diligence and care to keep out thieves ? Lord 
 stir up my soul to give all diligence. Though, not for our diligence 
 we shall be saved, yet, in a way of di ligence, we shall escape many 
 snares and evils, and enjoy safety and comfort: "The soul of the 
 diligent shall be made fat."....Prov. xiii. 4. Such shall feed upon 
 heavenly truth, grace and love ; their souls shall prosper and be in 
 good health ; while careless triflers with God and their own souls, 
 shall go to rest with dejection, rise with distress, and live in awful 
 suspence. 
 
 No peace of soul, no joy of heart, T hen, O my soul, would'st thru cr.joy 
 
 Unless we watchful are, The smiles of thy dear Christ ? 
 
 To walk in truth, from sin depart. Whatever wouUl thy peace destroy, 
 • And shun each treach'rous tnare. Be carcfiil to resist. M. 
 
860 DECEMBER 22. 
 
 Say to ihem that are of a fearful heart, he strongs fear 
 not.. ..ha. XXXV. 4. 
 
 Mind the title to this chapter : " The flourishing of Christ's 
 kingdom." What ! And yet fearful hearts in it? What sort of dis- 
 ciples are these ? There ever were such in the church. We meet 
 with them daily. Where is the heart which at times is not fearful? 
 Does not stand in need of being strengthened by the word and grace 
 of God ? O, says one, I am of a fearful heart : I read my doom : it is 
 to have my part with the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, 
 See. in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. ...Rev. xxi. 8. 
 Yes : this will be the certain portion of all who are so fearful of 
 their good names and fair characters, as to be asliamed of Christ and 
 his gospel, and give them up for the love and fear of this world ; but 
 not of such fearful hearts here spoken of. 1st. This sort arc rather 
 of " a hasty heart." It discovers its state by its beating, as the 
 pulse do the disorders of the body. It beats quick : it trembles : it 
 fears the face of its enemies : it dreads destruction from them. 2d. 
 Such a hasty heart is precipitate and inconsiderate: because it does 
 not know so clearly nor enjoy so comfortably the grace of Christ as 
 others do, it is hasty in writing bitter things against itself, and 
 drawing black conclusions of its state : such an one says, " I am 
 fearful I am not one of the elect ; not a believer in Christ ; am not 
 sanctified by his Spirit ; shall at last turn out a hypocrite, and bring 
 a scandal upon Christ and his gospel." Such fears are of a godly 
 nature ; they spring from godly jealously. Such are Christ's tender 
 lambs and timorous sheep : therefore, he commands his ministers 
 to say to such, "be strong." Though your strength is perfect 
 weakness, and your enemies powerful and innumerable, yet... .what? 
 Be strong in confidence, in the Lord's word of grace and truth : in 
 the belief of his promises: "fear not:" banish your fears: hear 
 your Lord, look to him: "behold your God:" the God of fearful 
 hearts and trembling spirits. Your God in flesh, "will come with 
 vengeance," against all your enemies, even God "with a recompence." 
 His reward is with him. Nothing but love is in his heart ; his lips 
 spjak notiiing but grace and truth to fearful hearts and trembling 
 souls : " lie will come and save you." Believe this : bless him for 
 this: trust him for this : rejoice in him for this: wait upon him for 
 this. Be assured of this, "The Lord is a God of judgment ; bles- 
 sed are all they that wait for liim."....Isa. xxx. 18. 
 
 'I'hniiijh fearful is my lieart, Be strong in faith, my soul. 
 
 My Lord proclaims his grace: Honor thy faithful Lord, 
 
 He sweetly bids my fears depart, \VI>o ran thy fiercest foes controul : 
 
 And rhev.s his loving face. Siill glory in his word. M. 
 
DECEMBER 23. S5I 
 
 All my springs are in thee. ...Psalm Ixxxvii. 7. 
 
 Philosophers, who know not God, who cloth all things bv his 
 power, talk of an occult quality in nature; a certain something-, 
 which they can neither explain nor account for, but which doth won- 
 ders. Just as darkly do many speak of a light within, which if they 
 are obedient to, and do not resist, will guide and sanctify them : but 
 they manifest that it is not a divine light, for it teaches them to slight 
 and reject divine revelation. This is Deism. But the heavenly- 
 taught soul speaks as the oracles of God: he confesses Christ dwells 
 in his heart by faith, and says, O Jesu, "• all my springs are in thee ;" 
 thou art that spring which puts and keeps my soul in spiritual mo- 
 tion. We see the vibration of the balance of a watch ; we know its 
 motion is from the main-spring, and the union it has v. ith it. Stop, 
 say the sons of pride, compare not man to a machine : truly, he is 
 worse ihan a good machine, in good order ; verily, he is naturally 
 like a bad machine, out of order ; for satan has dominion over him, 
 rules in him, and works upon him, according to his power.. ..Eph. 
 ii. 2. O, omnipotent Lord, it is by thy heavenly skill our souls '' are 
 created in Christ Jesus, unto good works. We are thy workman- 
 ship.". ...Eph. ii. 10. 1st. Hence springs the good work of humility 
 in the soul. I have no spring in myself, in my own free-will ; no in- 
 herent righteousness, power, wisdom or goodness: I can draw no 
 waters of consolation to refresh my soul, from any thing I am in my- 
 self, or can do for myself: I could as soon find a spring of water in 
 a. hot, dry, sandy desart, as in myself. Hence, with David, "lam 
 in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.".. ..Psalm Ixiii. 1. But, 
 2d. Here is the joyful claim of faith, " All my springs are in thee.'' 
 O Jesu, when I find my soul dry, and parched with burning lusts, 
 fiery darts from satan, scorching temptations from the world : the 
 springs of thy love, the streams of thy grace, the fountain of thy 
 blood, my Lord and my God, cool, refresh, and comfort my soul. 
 Dear Lord, thou hast cried, " If any man thrist, let him come unto 
 ME and drink. ".... John vii. 37. O free and precious invitation! I 
 thank thee, Lord, for it, and for the thirsting my soul has towards 
 thee. Glory to thee, I do believe on thee. Thou hast said, I shall 
 never thirst after any other but thee, for salvation.. ..John vi. 35. 
 " For it pleased the Father, that in thee all fulness should dwell." 
 ....Col. i. 19. I acquiesce in it: I rejoice at it: "O Lord, I will 
 praise thee, though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned 
 away and thou comfortedst me."....Isa. xii. 1. 
 Vol. n. X X 
 
562 DECEMBER 24. 
 
 Lo, this is the man zcho made not God his stre?7gth.... 
 Psalm lii. 7. 
 
 The following fact I had froiii my late beloved friend, and faith- 
 ful minister of Christ, Mr. Jones. A poor infidel deist had conceiv- 
 ed a strange notion, that men need not die unless they would. Upon 
 his death-bed he afl'ected to be resolute and bid God defiance. In 
 his last moments he sprang up, gnashed with his teeih, and with 
 looks of horror cried out, " God, I will not die." With these words 
 he expired. O the fearful death of the ungodly, who make not God 
 their strength ! O the joyful end of the righteous, Avhose strength 
 is in the Lord ! They have hope in their death ; for they make God 
 their strength in their life. What can a vile sinner do to make God 
 his friend ? Where is the impotent sinner who can make God his 
 strength ? What meaneth this ? Why, God is that to every poor sin- 
 ner which the word reveals him and faith takes him to be. Consider 
 this. You say, I am a weak, needy creature. What saith the Lord? 
 " Let him take hold of my strength.".... Isa. xxvii. 5. " Thou hast 
 been a strength to the poor ; a strength to the needy in his distress.". 
 Isa. XXV. 4. Again, in that sweet 52nd. chapter, the title of which 
 runs thus, Christ persuadeth the church to believe his 
 FREE REDEMPTION, the Lord calls upon poor and needy sinners, 
 " Awake, awake, put on thy strength. "....ver. 1. Now hence, for 
 the encouragement of our hearts and to the joy of our souls, we see, 
 that the Lord is the strength of that soul who believes in him, 
 chooses him, takes and receives him as such. Faith is the hand 
 ihat takes hold of God's strength. Faith claims God as the strength 
 of the poor and needy. And, because our poor hearts are apt to 
 grow heavy and sleepy, neglect and forget the strength of our heart 
 and our portion, lo, he crieth to us with a mighty voice, "Awake, 
 AWAKE. "....Jer. xvii. Lift up your eyes : look unto me, who, " when 
 ye were without strength, in due time died for the ungodly. "....Rom. 
 V. 6. Put on thy stuencjth. Thou hast no inherent strength. 
 Know thy strength is perfect weakness. Put on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ : he is " tlie Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength." 
 ....Isa. xxvi. 4. Learn daily that blessed art, to say with St. Paul, 
 *' When I am weak, then am I strong.". ...2 Cor. xii. 10. The Lord 
 commands you, "Let the weak say, I am strong."... . Joel iii. 10. 
 " Be strong in the Lord, and in tlie power of his might. "....Eph. 
 vi. 10. 
 
 God horn and living here on earth, Hold fast this truth in faith, :ny soul, 
 In Hesh like to our own ; Tliro' all thy trials here; 
 
 To faith an<l joy and peace gives birth, This will thy pow'rs in love controui, 
 And all our sorrows drown. 'Till Christ again appear. M. 
 
DECEMBER 25. 363 
 
 Emanuel, God loith us. ...Matt, i, 23. 
 
 This is the mystery which holy angels pry into. ...infernal de- 
 vils envy.... proud infidels reject with derision... .humble sinners glory- 
 in... .and which all the redeemed around the throne above are inces- 
 santly shouting and everlastingly triumphing for. 
 "'Till God in human flesh I see. 
 My thoughts no comfort find : 
 The holy, just, and ?acred Three, 
 Are terrors to my mind." 
 This is the language of every sin-convinced, spiritually enlighten- 
 ed soul. O how did we talk of God in nature's darkness, when we 
 were Avithout Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world, 
 even Atheists. But now, O wonder of converting grace, we see, 
 we believe, we know, God with us. This is the chief glory of 
 our faith.. ..the chief joy of our hearts. 1st. God with us, in 
 the eternal council and covenant before time : there he had our 
 persons in view, our case at heart, and undertook to be our 
 surety, our Jesus. Lo, we were then given to him by the Fa- 
 ther. That, 2d. In the fulness of time, he might be God with 
 us, in our flesh. Lo, he is born : see the babe : adore the God : re- 
 joice in " Emanuel, God with us." That, 3d. He might accom- 
 plish that in our nature, without which we must have been eternally 
 damned ; but for which we are everlastingly saved : namely, finish 
 transgression, make an end of sin, and bring in an everlasting 
 righteousness ; suffer, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.... 
 1 Pet. ili. 18. This is sweet in the history ; but, O how much 
 more so in the experience of the mystery. 4th. God with us, 
 living in our hearts, hopes and affections by the Spirit, through 
 faith. We know, we faste, we feel the reality, power and comfort 
 of this truth, God in Christ reconciled, not imputing our tres- 
 passes to us.. ..2 Cor. v. 19. Therefore, 5th. God with us, to op- 
 pose all who are against us. Well might Paul ask, " If God be for 
 us, who can be against us ?".... Rom. viii. 31. Now, may we not 
 stand forth and challenge all the powers of sin, earth, and hellr 
 " who shall lay any thing, to the charge of God's elect ? For God 
 the' justificr, and we the justified, are one in Christ; " I in them 
 and thou in me," says our Lord. ...John xvii. 23. Hence we meet 
 in love, mutually embrace, and have fellowship one with another. 
 This is the glory of Christ's nativity, brought into our hearts. 
 " Christ in us the hope of glory. "....Col. i. 27. This makes a joy- 
 ful soul, and a happy Christmas. 
 
 Thou God who came in mortal flesh, In spirit visit us afresh. 
 The lost to seek and save: New triumphs let us have. 
 
36t DECEMBER 26. 
 
 To reveal his Son in ?ne....Gal. i. IG. 
 
 From hence begins spiritual life : a life from God, in God, with 
 Cod, and to God. By the gospel, the Son of God is revealed to 
 us : by the Spirit he is revealed in us. External revelation by the 
 word, and internal by the Spirit, are both necessary to salvation. 
 Though Paul was separated from his mother's womb, to be called 
 by the grace of God, yet he had not this inward revelation of Jesus 
 Christ to his heart, till he heard the external word of Chi'ist with 
 his ear, saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?".. ..Acts 
 ix. 4. Hence learn to prize both the outward testimony of the 
 Avorri and the inward testimony of the Spirit. Consider, 1st. To 
 reveal, signifies to discover, or make clear to a person what he did 
 not know before. So, Fhil. iii. 15. "If in any thing ye be other- 
 Avise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." So the gospel 
 is a revelation of Jesus Christ, without which we could never have 
 kiiown nor understood that our sins are atoned by the blood, our 
 persons justified by the righteousness, and our souls everlastingly 
 redeemed and saved by the work of Christ. Is this knowledge by 
 this revelation all that is necessary to salvation ? No : persons may 
 attain a notion of these things in the head and understand somewhat 
 of them, and yet the heart be without precious faith in, and pecu- 
 liar approbation of Christ, destitute of the love of Christ and of 
 any saving hope in him. But, 2d. This is the chief glory of our 
 souls, tlie revealing Christ in us. O for the reviving comfort of 
 this while we consider it. To reveal Christ in us, is to make such 
 a clear discovery of the matchless charms and inestimable glory of 
 liis person to our souls, which we never saw before, so that our 
 hearts are enamoured with him, we choose him, love him, delight 
 in him, and cleave to him in all his offices and characters ; for by 
 the eye of our " soul we behold his glory, the glory as of the only 
 begotten of the Father, full of grack akd truth," to us mise- 
 rable sinners : hence he is the one beloved of our souls. Without 
 this revelation of Jesus Christ in us, alas! what is all external pro- 
 fession ? No more than mere task, dry formality, and heavy drud- 
 gery. O my soul, O my dear friends,' be not content to live with- 
 out a constant revelation of Christ to your souls : this makes the 
 conscience peaceful, tiie heart happy, and the soul joyful : this 
 inspires love, subdues lust, captivates the affections, makes the 
 \\ hole man happy in God, and creates heaven in the soul. If Christ 
 is within, in the heart, all will be right and well w ithout, in the life. 
 If you believe in Christ, as revealed in the word, this blessed pro- 
 mise is for you ; pray for its daily fulfilnient, " I will manifest my- 
 self unto him. "....John xiv. 21. 
 
DECEMBER 27. 35 5 
 
 Yc are all one in CJirist Jesus. ...Gal. Hi. 28. 
 
 Will a covetous man be content with the xotion that he is 
 rich ? If your body was in pain, would it give you ease to think of 
 a remedy without experiencing its salutary ellects ? What avails all 
 the refined notions of eternal imion, without experiencing that the 
 «oul is vitally united to Christ by the power of the Spirit, through 
 faith ? O my soul, I charge thee not to rest satisfied with the notion 
 of the doctrine of union, without the comforts of the grace of being 
 united to Christ, and being one with him in heart and affection. O, 
 my Jesus, to tliee I look and pray, to find and feel more and more 
 the sweet experience of this: give it my soul out of thy fulness. 
 Consider, 1st. The persons here spoken of, ye: ye Jews, who had 
 the form of godliness without the power: ye Gentile sinners, who 
 once had neither the form, nor the power of Christianity : ye apostate 
 sinners, who yesterday were haters of God, at enmity against his 
 law, rebels against his government, in league with sin, death and 
 hell; fighting under the prince of darkness: see what ye are now. 
 Behold what grace has done for you : see into whom it has implanted 
 you. 2d. " In Christ Jesus." Not only in the knowledge of him, 
 faith IN him, hope on him, and love to him: though all this is pre- 
 cious ; but much more, ye are mystically and spiritually united 
 to Christ, as truly as your soul is to your body, your body to your 
 head, or your hand to your body. Now Christ is your life, your 
 husband, your wisdom, righteousness, sanctificiilion and redemp- 
 tion....! Cor. i. 30. Ye are compleat: perfect in him....Col. ii. 10. 
 Simply believe this : look to Christ for the comfort of this : glorify 
 the Spirit for the grace of this. 3d. " Ye are all one in Christ," 
 whether Jew or (it-ntile, churchman or dissenter, &c. we, beini' 
 many (though of ditterenl denominations and opinions) are one 
 body.... I Cor. x. 17. Christ is the head: we are all members in 
 him, and of one another. As Luther says, " we have the same 
 Christ ; I, thou, and all the faithful, which Peter, Paul, and all 
 the saints had." We are all in the same Jesus: have all one Father, 
 one comforter, and are of one Spirit. Then let this faith quell all 
 unholy strife, and excite all heavenly love to each other. O let us 
 make it manifest that we are in Christ, by following him who is our 
 peace, and by holding the unity of " the Spirit in the bond of peace. 
 Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works.".... 
 Heb. X. 24. 
 
 Tliou sinner's only hope and friend, Let faith and love and every grace 
 
 Within my soul still reign, Within my heart abound ; 
 
 One with my heart unto the end, That I may prove inev'ry place, 
 
 Of all my strife and pain. That Jesus 1 have found. M. 
 
366 DECEMBER 28. 
 
 Yc arc dead, and your life is hid wiih Clirist in God..., 
 Col. iii. 3. 
 
 Wf. are apt to luistakt: the words and pervert the meaning- of 
 scripture. This charge is brought against us by Jeremiah : " Ye 
 have perverted the words of the living God."....xxiii. 36. This 
 dejects our souls, robs Christ of the glory of our hearts, and pre- 
 vents our holy and comfortable walk in him. See if this is not the 
 case in respect to this text. Ye believers in Christ are dead, 1st. 
 " To the law, by the body of Christ. "....Rom. vii. 4. Being one 
 with Christ by faith, you are dead to all legal hopes from your 
 own works. 2d. Dead to sin, being baptised into Christ by his 
 Spirit.. .. Rom. vi. 3. 3d. Dead to the world, being crucified with 
 Christ... .Gal. vi. 14. .O, says one and another sincere soul, I am 
 not thus dead : I have no true faith, I find sin alive in me : legal 
 hopes and fears cleave to me, and too much love of the world in me, 
 to my grief and burckn. Behold, here is distress through mistake. 
 Paul doth not say, all these things are dead in you ; but ye are dead 
 to them : that you are not in subjection to them ; that they are 
 your burden ; that you gi'oan under, and long for deliverance from 
 ihem, are the clearest proofs that you partake of the life of Christ. 
 Glory to Jesus for this. Yolk life is hid entirely from carnal 
 TOCh : they cannot see the spring and motive of your conduct : mar- 
 vel not that they deride you for it: your life is often hid to yourself. 
 When the dunghill of corruption's steam, temptation's smoke, the 
 black exhalations of unbelief arise, and Christ our life withdraws 
 his presence, then it is so hid that we fear our life is dead : but that 
 is as impossible as for God to die ; for our life is hid wrrii Christ r 
 then it can ne\ er be lost. Who can deprive us of it ? Not all the 
 powers of sin, earth nor hell : true, they may and do often rob oui* 
 souls of the comforts and joys of our spiritual life, because we do 
 not live and walk close with Christ ; but our life is safe and secure 
 while all-conquering Christ lives : for it is also in God : God the 
 Failier chose us to eternal life : God the Son redeemed us to it : 
 God the Spirit bestowed it upon us, therefore we can never perish : 
 none can pluck us out of God's hands : we need not fear any enemy : 
 " If God be for us, who can be against us f" O believer, view your 
 safety and security. Your enemies must fust overcome, and take 
 away the life of Christ and of God, before they can deprive you of 
 your life which is hid in them. " No weapon formed against thee 
 shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judg- 
 ment thou shalt condemn. "....Isa. liv. 17. 
 
DECEMBER 29. 367 
 
 iriicn Christ who is om^ life shall appear, then shall ye 
 also appear with him in glorij....Col. iii. 4. 
 
 I HAVE read a book consisting of stones, said to be told to the 
 Sultan of Arabia, to prevent a bloody purpose of his against his 
 Sultaness. I'he relator of the talcs was her own sister. She al- 
 ways contrived to leave oft' in the midst of her story, which he was 
 so delighted with as to promise not to destroy her sister till it was 
 ended : thus by protracting the execution she saved her sister's life. 
 Methinks there is no end to tiie history of Christ. Every fresh 
 relation of him delights the believing soul, and whets up an inclina- 
 tion to hear more of him again and again ; for he averted the bloody 
 execution of law and justice against us ; every fresh tale of him 
 strengthens our faith of salvation by him ; sets our minds more and 
 more against every evil, and excites us to every good : for, Christ 
 is OUR LiFK. O soul, Can you ever believe too much of him, or 
 hope too much in him ? It is our fault, our shame, our misery, that 
 we dwell no more on him and converse no more with him. Is Christ 
 thy life, O my soul ? What sort of a life do I live ? Jesus, wash me 
 in thy blood. Lord, pardon me by thy grace. Favour my soul w ith 
 fresh experience that thou art my life ; so be the death of all my 
 sins and the life of all my graces. O appear, appear in the power 
 of thy Spirit again and again in mc, before thou shalt appear in thy 
 power and gloiy to me. Christ shall appkar. What are we 
 looking at ? Why stand we gazing on perishing objects ? What are 
 we waiting for ? The Saviour? He shall appear. Perhaps the very 
 next moment, as the Lord of life and death, he may say to his angel 
 death, go, bring that saved sinner to me, his life. O joyful word 1 
 Learn to welcome it ; fuith will ; for, "we shall appkar with 
 HIM IN GLORY." How shall We appear ? In what we wore by faith, 
 were not ashamed of, but gloried in here : " Arrayed in fine linen, 
 clean and white : the rich robe of Christ's obedience, which is the 
 righteousness of saints.".. ..Rev. xix. 8. Mind, this is granted to 
 us. If it was oiu' own righteousness, we have a right to appear 
 in it ; there needs no grant of it : but it is Christ's righteousness, 
 therefore a gift by grant to us. O remember, it is a sure and certain 
 thing we shall appear (all the powers of hell cannot prevent it) 
 with Christ in glory. Only belikve, and you will love Christ, 
 rejoice to obey him, and long for his appearing. O Jesu, my life, 
 appear to my soul this night in all the power of faith, the joy of 
 hope, the comfort of love, and the fellowship of peace. 
 
36$ DECEMBER 50. 
 
 Old things arc passed a:caij....2 Cor. v. 17. 
 
 Such is the blessedness of every new creature in Christ : every 
 believer in him is a new creature. Mind, Paul does not say, old 
 things are passing away, but are past away. We are not to under- 
 stand him in an absolute, but in a qualified sense : for if none were 
 new creatures, till all old things are passed away, we should not find 
 one on this side heaven. Now the year is near at an end. Do not 
 you find your old corruptions cleaving to you ? Yea, the old man 
 still whole and alive in you, just as you did at the beginning of the 
 year, or at the beginning of days, when you first believed on Jesus 
 and Was made a new creature in him ? Do not you also see just the 
 same reason to comply with these exhortations, as at first ? " Put 
 off the old man which is corrupt.".. .. Eph. iv. 22. "Cleanse your- 
 selves from all filthinessof the flesh and spirit.".. ..2 Cor. vii. 1. Why, 
 if so, how can it be said, " Old things are past away ?" Consider, 
 Paul is not speaking of the old creation of fallen nature, but of the 
 new creation in Christ Jesus. As men, and descendants from fal- 
 len Adam, all the sin and misery of ouroldnature abides with us. We 
 are still in the flesh: in that dwells nothing but sin and evil : it is 
 under the sentence and must receive the wages of sin, death. But 
 as believers in Christ, "we are passed from death to life. "....John 
 V. 24. Being in him by faith, we are new creatures in a new crea- 
 tion. Observe in the foregoing verse, Paul is speaking of knowing^ 
 Christ and men after the fiesh ; but now, says he. We have done 
 with carnal views and fleshly knowledge : ^re are spiritual : we view 
 and know things by faith, as new creatures in Christ. Hence as we 
 are passed from our old state, old things are past away from us : 
 our old notions of God, of Christ, of salvation, our own free-will, 
 our legal righteousness, salvation by works in whole or in part. Sec. 
 all are past away. Yea, our delight in our old companions, in the 
 betwitching vanities of this old world, which is under the curse, 
 and our manner of living and walking in it, are passed away. Our 
 old way of keeping Christmas holidays, and concluding the old year 
 in card-playing and vanity is passed avay : and if, for conscience 
 sake, we do not keep days by any religious observation of them, 
 we do not spend them in our old way, by " making provision for the 
 fltsh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." O, says one, I would not keep 
 Christmas for the world: it is superstitious. Pray then do not keep 
 it for the devil and the flesh : '• If we live in the Spirit, let us walk 
 in the Spirit.".. ..Gal. v. 25. 
 
 Tli<" i""! tlutt's bornaf^ain in Clirist, With perfect righteousness is blest, 
 1j qniie in a new stale, Old ihiiigs are out of date. M. 
 
DECEMBER 31. 369 
 
 He that endureth to the end shall be saved.... Matt. x. 22. 
 
 We are now got to the end of another year. Look back with 
 humility : look up with hope : look forward with joy : for consider 
 what great things God hath done for us : " Now is our salvation 
 nearer, than when we (first) believed. "....Rom. xiii. 1 1. Salvation, 
 O the joyful sound ! But, before the sun of righteousness arose 
 upon us and displayed the glory of his finished salvation to our 
 hearts, alas ! what dark, proud, ignorant notions of salvation did 
 we entertain ? Instead of seeing righteousness as a gift by Jesus 
 Christ, and justification of life coming by free gift, and eternal life 
 the gift of God through Jesus Christ.. ..Rom. v. 17, 18, vi. 23. ...we 
 vainly thought that salvation was to be obtained by our fulfilling cer- 
 tain terms and conditions. In our natural state of blindness, before 
 we saw Jesus, we thought enduring to the end was the condition of 
 being saved : now we see we are " saved in the Lord with an ever- 
 lasting salvation. "....Isa. xlv. 17. Yet some, who do not clearly see 
 the glory of Christ's salvation, are puzzling themselves and others 
 with the notion of a conditional salvation. If salvation is put upon our 
 conditions, it behoves us to consider what conditions we are to per- 
 form in order to be saved. Every command may be considered as a 
 condition. If we multiply them by four times forty-five, we shall 
 come vastly short of their number; and we may be sure we shall 
 never get to the end, so as to be saved by fulfilling them. O, the 
 arrogance of bankrupt sinners, whose case is quite desperate, and 
 yet think of standing upon terms and conditions with the most high 
 God ! But, say some, though of ourselves we can do nothing, yet 
 God enables by his grace to perform the conditions of salvation. 
 This is just like a creditor demanding a large sum of an insolvent 
 debtor, who replies, I cannot pay you.... I am not worth one farthing. 
 But, says the creditor, I will come to terms with you : if you will 
 pay me one shilling in the pound, on that condition I will forgive you 
 the whole debt. Says the pennyless debtor, if you will assist me 
 with the money, I will fulfil your condition. Strange compact ! 
 If we must have conditions of salvation, they are all to be reduced 
 to this one, if you will save yourselves to the end, you shall be 
 saved in the end. Consider the evils of this proud, unscriplural 
 notion, and reject it. 1st. While we arc taken up with finding 
 these conditions, striving to fulfil them, and looking for salvation by 
 them, we sadly overlook precious Jesus, his blood and righteousness, 
 and. awfully depreciate and set at nought his finished salvation. 
 And, 2d. We shall walk on very unhappily, and in the end shall 
 be very uncomfortable. What! if we strive to fulfil God's law ? 
 Vol. IL Yy Ye;, 
 
370 DECEMBER 3f. 
 
 Yes, if we reject his counsel of salvation, by free gift of free grace-, 
 through the one atonement and righteousness of his beloved Son, to 
 make way for our terms and conditions of salvation. So, 5d. We 
 shall bring ourselves into bondage. Says Paul, "I testify to every 
 man that is circumcised (does any work as a condition to be justified 
 and saved) that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of 
 none effect to him." As he seeks to be justified by the law, he is 
 fallen from grace. ...Gal. v. 3, 4. O brethren ! beware, instead of en- 
 during to the end by faith, that you do not stumble and fall at the 
 very beginning through pride. But Ave begun the year, seeing Je- 
 sus. We set out on our race with this free-grace truth, " When 
 we had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave us all. "....Luke vii. 42» 
 O in this blessed sight, and with this precious faith, let us endure to 
 the end. In, and under all that Ave have to endure from a corrupt 
 nature, a Avicked world, and a subtle, malicious deAil, nothing can 
 bring relief to our consciences, patience to our minds, hope to our 
 hearts, peace to our souls, and joy to our spirits, but looking unto 
 Jesus. In him we see salvation-Avdrk for ever done for us. We 
 hear and believe his cry from the cross, "It is finished." We 
 hear him proclaim from his throne in glory, " It is done," I am 
 Alpha and Omega, " the beginning and the end of salvation.".... 
 Rev. xxi. 6. " We are chosen in him to salvation." We knoAv this. 
 HoAv? "Through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the 
 truth."....2 Thess. ii. 13. "Christ, of God, is made unto us Avis- 
 dom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption."....! Cor. i. 30. 
 In the faith of this Ave persevere : " By faith we endure (every fight 
 of affliction) seeing him who is invisible."....Heb. xi. 27. We 
 " run with patience the race set before us." Hoav ? Looking to 
 terms and conditions of salvation fulfilled by us ? O no! But " look- 
 ing to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."... .Heb. xii. 2. 
 Consider that precious Avord, you Avho are ready to think your faith 
 will notofcold out to the end : the same Jesus Avho is the author Avill 
 be the finisher of your faith. While legal hearts work for life and 
 salvation, it is the glory of gospel faith to live upon Jesus, Avho is 
 our life and salvation, and to enjoy life and salvation in Christ eve- 
 ry step Ave take in the Avay to endless life and glory : therefore, in 
 spite of all the deccitfulncss of sin and the art and malice of satan, 
 Ave shall " receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls." 
 .... 1 Pet. i. 9. 
 
 I.ook up fc^r ptrrseverin?^ grace Fear to turn back, or slight the ways 
 'I'o Ji'Mis sour best friend. Of truth and holiness : 
 
 And h. pe to see his smiling face, For Jesn':^ lavish of his grace, 
 i'widuiii.g to tlic end. And will with glory bless- M. 
 
FEBRUARY 29. sn 
 
 ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR LEAP-YEAR. 
 
 Out of seaso7i....2 Tim iv. 2. 
 
 I have often thought, as passhig by the great number of chur- 
 ches in London, what manner of stones and what buiUlings are 
 here ! What noble cages are these 1 But what pitiful birds occupy, 
 them ! They scarce ever sing in them above once a week; and then 
 it is a strange, wild note, not the joyful song of salvation by the 
 blood and righteousness of the Son of God : they do not follow 
 Paul's solemn advice, " I charge thee before God and the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing, 
 and his kingdom : preach the word, be instant in season, out of 
 SEASON." If Christ's ministers are thus charged to preach out of 
 season, this charge is equally binding upon all his disciples to hear 
 out of season also. Consider some reasons for this. 1st. By the 
 preaching of the word faith grows and is strengthened. This truth 
 ever remains, and will be made good in experience, "Faith cometh' 
 by hearing.".. ..Rom. X. 17. 2d. If faith cometh, then Christ, with 
 peace, love, joy, holiness and heaven, cometh to the heart. O then 
 if so, need there be any other reason added for constant hearing? 
 3d. The devil cometh out of season. You are never totally free from 
 his force, fraud and subtlety. How can you withstand him ? Only 
 by resisting him stedfastly in the faith.... 1 Pet. v. 9. How will you 
 overconie him ? " Only by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of 
 his testimony. "....Rev. xii. II. By constant hearing of the word we 
 get instructions in satan's art and devices, encouragement by our 
 Lord's victory over him, and also have our faith strengthened to re- 
 sist and overcome him. 4th. Trials and afflictions come every day. 
 How are we to get support and patience under them, comfort in 
 them, sanctification by them, and a prospect of being delivered from 
 them ? From the ministry of the word. Mind what is said of dis- 
 ciples of old : " Ye received the word in much affliction, with joy 
 in the Holy Ghost.".... 1 Thess. i. 6. More than twenty years ago, 
 with great distress of soul and much weakness of body, I have of- 
 ten walked near three miles to hear the word : my legs have drag- 
 ged on heavily : I have been ready to say. You have often carried me 
 to the play-house, and now ye must carry me to the Lord's house. 
 For, 5th. Blessed be our Lord, by the preaching of the word, our 
 doubts are resolved.. ..our fears scattered.. ..our hopes revived.. ..the 
 prospect of the heavenly world brightened. ...more clear evidence of 
 interest in it, and assurance of enjoying of it obtained. The word 
 has a native tendency to promote all this ; and by the grace of the 
 Spirit, souls who constantly attend on it, will be sure to find the 
 sweet experience of all this. 
 
AN INDEX 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE TREATED OF. 
 
 Chap 
 
 . Verse 
 
 GENESIS 
 
 Page 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 196 
 
 16 
 
 13 
 
 60 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 296 
 
 18 
 
 33 
 
 SI 
 
 sr 
 
 19 
 
 253 
 
 39 
 
 9 
 
 348 
 
 40 
 
 7 
 
 162 
 
 42 
 
 8 
 
 113 
 
 43 
 
 SO 
 
 245 
 
 46 
 
 50 
 
 300 
 
 45 
 
 28 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 313 
 
 8 
 
 23 
 
 115 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 120 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 190 
 
 \7 
 
 7 
 
 235 
 
 20 
 
 25 
 
 307 
 
 S3 
 
 11 
 
 345 
 
 34 
 
 30 
 
 83 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 33 
 
 27 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 354 
 
 25 
 
 14 
 JUDGES. 
 
 259 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 301 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 105 
 
 16 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 SAMUEL. 
 
 274 
 
 17 
 
 33 
 
 193 
 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 294 
 
 30 
 
 39 
 
 229 
 
 26 
 
 21 
 
 275 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 117 
 
 28 
 
 15 
 
 208 
 
 2 
 
 SAMUEL. 
 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 79 
 
 14 
 
 32 
 
 329 
 
 15 
 
 26 
 
 1 KINGS. 
 
 226 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 2 KINGS. 
 
 291 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 42 
 
 Chap. Verse Page 
 
 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 20 20 118 
 25 9 317 
 
 25 16 318 
 
 25 19 319 
 
 32 31 112 
 
 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 6 11 165 
 8 10 184 
 
 JOB. 
 
 1 21 515 
 19 23 251 
 56 52 261 
 
 50 23 237 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 2 12 201 
 
 7 8 325 
 25 8 323 
 25 11 103 
 
 25 14 172 
 
 26 3 82 
 
 31 18 198 
 
 32 2 5 
 34 2 281 
 
 37 39 299 
 
 38 4 283 
 41 4 154 
 48 14 30 
 
 51 7 182 
 
 51 8 81 
 
 52 7 358 
 
 55 16 152 
 
 56 3 72 
 60 3 50 
 63 4 343 
 63 8 311 
 72 17 187 
 77 7 16 
 77 8 25 
 87 7 357 
 97 11 155 
 
 104 34 107 
 
 106 4 65 
 
 113 3 147 
 
 Chap. Verse 
 il6 9 
 
 116 11 
 
 119 28 
 
 119 55 
 
 119 81 
 125 3 
 
 136 23 
 
 PROVERBS 
 
 3 9 
 
 4 7 
 
 4 23 
 14 12 
 28 26 
 
 SONG. 
 
 2 16 
 
 3 3 
 
 8 5 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 1 18 
 
 2 22 
 
 5 23 
 
 9 6 
 27 13 
 35 4 
 
 40 1 
 
 41 17 
 
 42 1 
 
 42 21 
 
 43 25 
 
 43 26 
 
 44 22 
 
 45 8 
 49 15 
 
 51 22 
 
 52 7 
 
 53 5 
 
 54 5 
 54 5 
 
 54 6 
 
 55 1 
 
 55 3 
 
 56 2 
 
 57 1 
 61 10 
 
 Page 
 
 177 
 241 
 108 
 210 
 279 
 62 
 16 
 
 142 
 200 
 355 
 156 
 102 
 
 351 
 176 
 
 194 
 
 7 
 45 
 
 244 
 356 
 
 23 
 
 49 
 328 
 
 67 
 336 
 339 
 
 19 
 171 
 346 
 227 
 
 95 
 122 
 170 
 321 
 232 
 148 
 
 94 
 246 
 164 
 191 
 
INDEX. 
 
 373 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Verse 
 
 Pa^e 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Verse 
 
 65 
 
 1 
 
 236 
 
 9 
 
 50 
 
 66 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 37 
 
 J 
 
 EREMIAH. 
 
 
 
 LUKE. 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 89 
 
 7 
 
 35 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 90 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 21 
 
 4. 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 51 
 
 10 
 
 42 
 
 23 
 
 29 
 
 275 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 52 
 
 40 
 
 17 
 
 13 
 
 23 
 
 LAMENTATIONS. 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 40 
 
 28 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 167 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 111 
 
 18 
 
 13 
 
 
 HOSEA. 
 
 
 21 
 
 60 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 135 
 
 22 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 99 
 
 23 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 86 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 183 
 
 24 
 
 38 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 
 272 
 
 24 
 
 39 
 
 
 JOEL. 
 
 
 24 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 258 
 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 
 MICAH. 
 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 309 
 
 1 
 
 39 
 
 ZEPHANIAH. 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 57 
 
 3 
 
 33 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 58 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 ZECHARIAH 
 
 . 
 
 6 
 
 27 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 161 
 
 6 
 
 53 
 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 
 6 
 
 66 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 220 
 
 6 
 
 57 
 
 3 
 
 U 
 
 350 
 
 6 
 
 69 
 
 
 MATTHEW 
 
 
 S 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 '357 
 
 « 
 
 47 
 
 6 
 
 11 
 
 262 
 
 11 
 
 26 
 
 6 
 
 31 
 
 352 
 
 11 
 
 52 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 327 
 
 12 
 
 41 
 
 10 
 
 22 
 
 363 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 18 
 
 13 
 
 37 
 
 10 
 
 40 
 
 314 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 37 
 
 146 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 55 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 27 
 
 254 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 16 
 
 24 
 
 35J 
 
 21 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 54 
 
 
 ACTS. 
 
 20 
 
 28 
 
 298 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 27 
 
 35 
 
 234 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 
 MARK. 
 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 349 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 36 
 
 71 
 
 
 
 Page!' 
 
 43 
 332 
 
 302 
 
 157 
 
 11 
 
 3cS 
 
 293 
 
 299 
 
 312 
 
 247 
 
 84 
 
 46 
 
 251 
 
 150 
 
 249 
 
 173 
 
 8 
 
 265 
 
 228 
 
 248 
 
 242 
 
 284 
 326 
 225 
 314 
 
 80 
 
 68 
 145 
 143 
 342 
 308 
 
 96 
 110 
 
 75 
 
 59 
 256 
 
 35 
 238 
 139 
 140 
 
 34 
 233 
 268 
 211 
 
 199 
 168 
 335 
 
 292 
 
 hap. 
 
 Verse 
 
 Page 
 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 181 
 
 
 17 
 
 160 
 
 
 18 
 
 27 
 
 
 4 
 
 92 
 
 
 2 4 
 
 29 
 
 
 15 
 
 340 
 
 
 16 
 
 212 
 
 
 14 
 
 295 
 
 
 9 
 
 203 
 
 
 11 
 
 289 
 
 
 19 
 
 101 
 
 
 19 
 
 252 
 
 
 15 
 
 286 
 
 
 9 
 
 333 
 
 
 18 
 
 269 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 270 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 344 
 
 8 
 
 31 
 
 135 
 
 9 
 
 20 
 
 347 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 310 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS. 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 305 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 73 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 77 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 47 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 43 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 63 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 134 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 144 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 26 
 
 15 
 
 31 
 
 141 
 
 15 
 
 34 
 
 114 
 
 15 
 
 55 
 
 24 
 
 15 
 
 58 
 
 276 
 
 2 CORINTHIANS. 
 
 1 
 
 22 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 219 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 271 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 260 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 362 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 64 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 202 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 75 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 74 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 12 
 
 7- 
 
 266 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 240 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 267 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 69 
 
574 
 
 
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chap. Verse 
 
 GALATIANS 
 
 Page 
 
 Chap. 
 
 2 
 
 Verse 
 12 
 
 Page Chap. 
 280 1 li 
 
 Verse 
 30 
 
 Page 
 
 330 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 358 
 
 2 
 
 ir 
 
 195 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 255 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 359 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 360 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 334 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 218 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 361 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 322 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 216 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 106 
 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 217 
 
 1 THESSALONIANS. 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 55 
 
 5 
 
 i 
 
 290 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 188 
 
 
 1 PETER. 
 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 1 
 
 TIMOTHY 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 285 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 163 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 197 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 209 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 85 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 189 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 121 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 320 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 337 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 324 
 
 EPHESIANS 
 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 175 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 44 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 174 
 
 
 2 PETER 
 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 151 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 223 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 153 
 
 2 
 
 45 
 
 282 
 
 2 
 
 TIMOTHY 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 303 
 
 ■i 
 
 4 
 
 130 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 222 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 304 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 131 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 224 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 264 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 132 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 66 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 185 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 70 
 
 4 
 
 2 Leap-year 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 186 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 207 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 230 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 305 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 257 
 
 
 TITUS. 
 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 331 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 i 
 
 33 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 178 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 53 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 
 1 JOHN. 
 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 123 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 88 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 124 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 263 
 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 125 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 205 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 37 
 
 6 
 
 16 
 
 126 
 
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 243 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 137 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 128 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 273 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 76 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 129 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 192 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 206 
 
 I'HILIPPIANS. 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 119 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 52 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 116 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 61 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 221 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 98 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 137 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 179 
 
 
 JUDE. 
 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 282 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 180 
 
 
 3 
 
 231 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 289 
 
 10 
 
 26-27 
 
 341 
 
 
 4 
 
 91 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 214 
 
 10 
 
 38 
 
 133 
 
 
 20 
 
 138 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 109 
 
 10 
 
 39 
 
 156 
 
 REVELATIONS. 
 
 COLOSSIANS 
 
 . 
 
 11 
 
 13 
 
 149 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 158 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 57 
 
 11 
 
 13 
 
 335 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 159 
 
 I 
 
 18 
 
 204 
 
 11 
 
 27 
 
 93 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 104 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 169 
 
 11 
 
 27 
 
 213 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 239 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 215 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 STATE OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 Abeel, Rev. John N. 
 Ackerman, Jamima 
 Addoms, Jonas 
 Agrigg, Benjamin 
 Akerly, Mrs. 
 Allen, William 
 Amerman, Peter 
 Amerman, Dirck 
 Anthony, Nicholas N. 
 Anderson, James 
 Anderson, William 
 Arden, Francis 
 Arden, Thomas S. 
 Astor, Heniy 
 Ashley, William 
 Asler, Henry 
 Bard, William, Esq. 
 Baldwin, Jesse 
 Bailey, James 
 Barrea, Sarah 
 Banker, John K. 
 Baiven, John 
 Battle, Joseph 
 Baitlett, Joseph 
 Bancker, Anna 
 Beekman, John 
 Bonnet, Peterj 
 Bethune, Divie 
 Bedient John 
 Beach, Rev. Abraham 
 Bingham, John 
 Bininger, Abraham 
 Bleeckcr, Leonard, Esq. 
 Bleecker, Garret N. 
 Eleecker, James 
 Blake, Robert 
 Blakely, Davis 
 Bloodgood, Abraham 
 Blackslidge, Cornelius 
 Blauvelt, Harman 
 Bruen, Matthias 
 Erower, Abraham 
 Bowering, Caleb 
 Friiickerhoff, Abraham 
 Burger, Mary 
 
 Brower, Dr. Anthony 
 Brower, Elizabeth 
 Boyd, Samuel, Esq. 
 Boal, William 
 Bowen, John 
 Bogart, David 
 Boggs, James C. 
 Broom, John, Esq. 
 Brooks, Michael 
 Brinckerhoff, Rachel 
 Butterworth, Mrs. 
 Brasher, Ephraim 
 Brower, Mary 
 Burnside, Thomas 
 Bunn, John 
 Brinckerhoff, Phelic 
 Brown, John 
 Bran, William 
 Brinckerhoff, Seba 
 Butterworth, Henry 
 Clark, Ebenezer 
 Concklin, James 
 Campbell, Alexander 
 Currie, Archibald 
 Cammann, Charles L. 
 Caldwell, John 
 Clarkson, Gen. M. 
 Carmer, Sarah 
 Carpender, Thomas 
 Child, Abraham 
 Coit, Levi 
 Cochran, Philip 
 Courtlandt, Stephen V. 
 Christie, Mary 
 Collier, Rev. William 
 Curtis, Hannah 
 Couenhovcn, Henry 
 Coxe, Nicholas 
 Crolius, John, jun. 
 Cross, Joseph 
 Chalk, James 
 Cook, Michael 
 Choate, Joseph 
 Childs, Francis 
 Crolius, Clarkson, jiui. 
 Creaig, James 
 
376 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 Couvin, (icorgc 
 Cobcrt, John 
 Crcighton, Elizabeth 
 Carnier, Altie 
 Culbertson, Catharine 
 Cunningham, Richard 
 Curtis, Mrs. 
 Campbell, Thomas I. 
 Cox, Jameson 
 Chalk, Richard 
 Duryee, Jane 
 Duryee, Elizabeth 
 Duryee, Richard 
 Duffie, James 
 Degroodt, Samuel 
 Durham, Andrew 
 Demarest, Thomas 
 Drake, Oliver 
 Duryee, Charles 
 Dey, Anthony, Esq. 
 Depeyster, John 
 Depeyster, James W. 
 Depeyster, Anna 
 Dickenson, Charles 
 Doughty, Samuel 
 Delemater, Samuel 
 Davenport, John A. 
 
 Deforest, Isaac 
 
 Deforest, John 
 
 Deforest, Lawrence V. 
 
 Deforest, Abraham 
 
 Dodge, Samuel 
 
 Downie, James 
 
 Disbrow, Jolm 
 
 Deremcr, John 
 
 Dominick, George 
 
 Drummond, Duncan 
 
 Demarest, Joseph 
 
 Degrushe, Robert 
 
 Duggan, Thomas 
 
 Duryee, John T. 
 
 Dickson, John 
 
 Day, John 
 
 Elmendorf, Edmund, Esq. 
 
 Earle, Thomas 
 
 Kvertson, N. Esq. 
 
 Elting, Peter 
 
 Edwards, John 
 
 Elting Peter, jun. 
 
 Elting, James 
 
 Elmendorf, Peter Z. 
 
 Elting, Edward 
 
 Earle, Joseph 
 
 Egbert, Benjamin 
 
 Forbes, William G. 
 Few, Mrs. 
 Forsyth, John 
 Fradgley, Thomas 
 Foster, Andrew 
 Funck, John 
 Falk, Thomas 
 Frazer, Christian 
 Ferdon, John 
 Fenwick, Thomas 
 Ferguson, John 
 Frelinghuysen, Louisa 
 Furman, Job 
 Frear, William 
 Faulkner, Peter 
 Gilbert, Garret 
 Gilchrist, Robert 
 Green, Hannah 
 Giraud, Jacob P. 
 Gibson, D. S. 
 Gunton, Joseph 
 Graham, Isaac 
 Gibson, James 
 Gosman, George 
 Gray, William 
 Gardner, Michael 
 Gosman, Robert 
 Graham, Mrs. R. 
 Galatian, William W. 
 Gillespie, Mrs. 
 Ciallow, Christopher 
 Hardy, Joseph 
 Hosack, Dr. David 
 Heyer, Cornelius 
 Heyer, Isaac 
 Hawes, Peter 
 Hatfield, Isaac 
 Ilaviland, Mrs. 
 Heyer, Walter W. 
 Haviland, Jerusha 
 Hollowell, Samuel 
 Hyer, Garret 
 Hoogland, Abraham 
 Holdron, John 
 Heustis, Daniel 
 Harvey, Thomas 
 Hayden, Jared 
 Hayden, Ebenezcr 
 Hillman, Henry 
 Hall, Daniel 
 Holden, Asa 
 Hobdey, George 
 Hubbard, John 
 Ham, Wandlc 
 
SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 377 
 
 Inglesby, John 
 
 Jones, John 
 
 Jacobus, Harriot 
 
 Jackson, Archibald 
 
 Jones, Dr. G. 
 
 Janeway, George 
 
 Johnson, John 
 
 Jackson, Henry 
 
 Jelverton, Andrew 
 
 Johnson, Jacob 
 
 Jandon, Daniel 
 
 Jackson, David 
 
 Kip, James H. 
 
 Kip, Isaac L. Esq. 
 
 Kip, Leonard 
 
 Kendrick, Walter 
 
 Kuypers, Rev. Gerardus A. 
 
 King, William 
 
 King, Robert 
 
 Knapp, Benjamin S. 
 
 Kettletas, Clarissa 
 
 Kelly, Robert 
 
 King, David 
 
 Knox, John 
 
 Keen, Joseph 
 
 Livingston, Rev. John H. D.D. 
 
 Lawrence, H. A. 
 
 Lawrence, Catharine 
 
 Lefferts, Leffert 
 
 Lindsay, George 
 
 Leacraft, William 
 
 Lounds, Thomas 
 
 Linn, Rev. William D. D. 
 
 Low, Mrs. 
 
 Leroy, Mrs. 
 
 Laing, John 
 
 Lyde, Edward 
 
 Lyde, Edward, jun. 
 
 Latham, Henry 
 
 Labagh, John J. 
 
 Lansdown, Edward 
 
 Livingston, Henry Alexander 
 
 M'Comb, Alexander 
 
 Mills, John 
 
 M'Leod, Roderick 
 
 M'Clung, Anthony 
 
 Murray, John 
 
 Manley, John 
 
 Mumford, Gurdon S. 
 
 Margarum, James T. 
 
 Mertow, Jacob, Esq. 
 
 Maxwell, William 
 
 Miller, Rev. Samuel 
 
 M'Leod, Margery 
 
 Vol. U. Z 
 
 Mercer, Peter S. 
 
 Merriot, Ebenezer 
 
 Marsh, John F. 
 
 Mercer, Mary 
 
 Moor, Lawrence 
 
 Morrell, Andrew 
 
 Marsh, Mrs. 
 
 M'Kinley, Mrs. 
 
 Manley, Robert 
 
 Moor, Abraham 
 
 M'Clure, James 
 
 Mitchell, John 
 
 Myer, Cornelius 
 
 Minthorn, Philip 
 
 M'Kinlay, Mary 
 
 M'Faull, John 
 
 Manning, James 
 
 Martling, Abraham S. 
 
 Mackaness, Thomas T. 
 
 M'Gill, Robert 
 
 Miller, John 
 
 Morris, John 
 
 Morris, Mrs. 
 
 Mersereau, Catharine 
 
 Mann, David 
 
 Marsh, David s 
 
 Miller, ^^'alter 
 
 Mather, Andrew 
 
 M'Crea, Mary 
 
 Mills, Joshua 
 
 Miller, William 
 
 Murray, John jun. 
 
 Miller, Mrs. 
 Maden, Thomas D. 
 Nixon, Sanriuel 
 Noe, Lemountis 
 Nesbit, Samuel, jun. 
 Neil, Sally 
 Norman, Josiah 
 Nevious, Garret 
 Neilson, William, jun. 
 Nexsen, Elias 
 Norman, John 
 Nicholas, Abigail 
 Napton, William 
 Oothout, John, Esq. 
 Osgood, Samuel 
 Onderdonk, Andrew 
 Ovington, William 
 Proudfoot, Lawrence 
 Post, John I. 
 Pryer, Thomas 
 Peters, John 
 
578 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 Pryer, Capt. 
 Probyn, Edward 
 Page, Benjamin 
 Post, Anthony, Esq. 
 Prince, Robert 
 Powels, Martin 
 Pilgrim, Nathaniel 
 Percelin, Jacobus 
 Park, John 
 Powels, Cornelius 
 Post, John 
 Piatt, Mary 
 Pransly, John 
 Quay, John 
 Ray, Cornelius, Esq. 
 Ridgeway, Robert 
 Remscn, Henry, Esq. 
 Rich, T. L. 
 Rogers, Moses, Esq. 
 Roberts, Robert 
 Rich, Thomas 
 Rogers, Dr. John R. B. 
 Rose, Alexander 
 Roose\elt, Sarah 
 Rankin, Robert 
 Reed, Stephen 
 Roome, Henry 
 Rodgers, Henry 
 Rich, Jacob 
 Roome, Nicholas 
 Rich, Stephen 
 Riker, Matthias 
 Riker, Gerardus 
 Randall, Thomas 
 Rider, Abraham 
 Rollinson, William 
 Reynolds, Abraham 
 Reynolds, James 
 Rankin, Henry 
 Richardson, Thomas 
 Rudd, Samuel 
 Rose, John 
 Robertson, Peter 
 Riley, Mrs. A. 
 Rutgers, Henry, Esq. 
 Rodgers, Rev. John D. U. 
 Roosevelt, James 
 Robertson, Alexander 
 Ramsay, Mongo 
 Salter, Thomas 
 Scott, James, Esq.. 
 Sprainger, Peter 
 Sebring, Isaac 
 Slidell, John, jun. 
 
 Steenback, Anthony 
 Stryker, Dennis 
 Smith, James R. 
 Swords, T. &: J. 
 Sickels, Garrit 
 Stagel, William 
 Smith, Stephen 
 Stagg, Peter 
 Shephard, Mrs. 
 Stoutenburgh, John 
 Smith, Alexander 
 Salisbury, John 
 Stevens, Ebenezer 
 Smilie, Eleanor 
 Smith, Joseph 
 Simmons, William 
 Stryker, John 
 Stagg, John, jun. Esq. 
 Spencer, William 
 Sacket, Elisha 
 Steddiford, Gerard 
 Shaw, James 
 Sickels, John H. 
 Stoddard, Robert 
 Scrim gcour, Rev. Mr. 
 Sands, Comfort 
 Smith, Daniel 
 Stephens, John 
 Sackett, S. & N. 
 Suckley, George 
 St\iyvesant, Peter G. Esq. 
 Stoutenburgh, Elizabeth 
 Suydam, Peter 
 Snow, Susannah 
 Smith, John 
 Trucket, Mrs. 
 Todd, William W. 
 Tenbrook, Henry 
 Turk, Ahashuerus 
 Thorburn, Grant 
 Taylor, John 
 Thompson, Robert 
 Townsend, Mary 
 Thorburn, James 
 Teller, James 
 Tucker, Elizabeth 
 Thornton, John 
 Tenl>rook, John 
 Thomson, Joseph 
 T hompson, Archibald 
 Talmage, Daniel 
 Ten Eyck, Thomas 
 Telfair, Adam 
 Torrester, Archibald 
 
SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 379 
 
 Terheun, Richard 
 Tallman, Jacob 
 Townley, Mary 
 Taylor, Jeremiah 
 Tuck, Samuel 
 Torboss, Isaac 
 Van Courtlandt, Mrs. C. S. 
 Varick, Abraham 
 Vandcrbilt, John 
 Van Kleeck, John 
 Van Courtlancit, i-]lizabeth 
 \"aii.soIingcn, Dr. Henry M. 
 Van Wyck, Janies 
 Van Antwerp, James 
 Van Wagenen, Garret IT. 
 Van Antwerp, Jacob N. 
 \''arick, Richard, Esq. 
 Van Ncsttr, George J. 
 Voorhies, Paul 
 \'an Kleef, Hannah 
 Van Zandt, Peter 
 Van Winkle, Sarah 
 Van Zandt, Peter P. 
 Van Ordcn, John 
 Van Nf-ss, Abraham 
 Van Gelder, Abraham 
 Van Mossel, William 
 W-rmilye, William 
 X'ervelen, Jacobus 
 Wyckoff, Cornelius P. 
 Wendover, Peter II. Esq^ 
 Wilkinson, Richard 
 Wilson, William 
 Wali^rove, Garrit 
 Waterman, J. 
 W cstervelt, John I. 
 Werth, John I. 
 Wright, Jacob 
 Whitlock, Thomas B. 
 Wayland, Francis 
 Wynkoop, Cornelius 
 Weeks, Stephen 
 Within gton, John 
 Willson, Dr. Peter 
 Willis, John 
 Williams, Rev. John 
 Wright, Archibald 
 Wright, William 
 Williams, John W. 
 Watson, John 
 Woods, Elizabeth 
 Williams, Daniel 
 Williamson, Hester 
 Wright, John 
 
 Westervelt, Daniel 
 Wheeler, Solomon 
 Wendell, Rebecca 
 Willis, Caleb 
 Wade, John 
 Young, James 
 
 ALBANY. 
 
 Atwill, Thomas H. 
 Bassett, Rev. John 
 Bloodgood, EHza 
 Burton, John 
 Bassett, N. B. 
 Bleccker, James 
 Blakeley, David 
 Boardman, John 
 Bogert, Margaret 
 Bogert, Hannah 
 Bogert, John I. 
 Beekman, Peter 
 Brown, Eleanor 
 Chinn, Margaret 
 Eights, Abraham 
 Gates, John 
 Hansen, Isaac 
 Ilutton, Isaac 
 Hunt, Davis 
 Hooker, William 
 Hewson, Daniel 
 Hoghkerk, Margaret 
 Hunt, Abijah 
 Hoffman, Andrew 
 Hunn, Abraham, Esq. 
 Huar, Cornelius 
 Lottridge, Ann 
 Lansingh, Abraham A. 
 Lansing, Henry R. 
 Lucas, Isaac 
 Livingston, Margaret 
 Lester, Mordecai 
 Latimore, Thomas 
 Miller, Christian 
 Motson, Margaret 
 Maley, John 
 Melich, David 
 Newland, David 
 Preyn, Alida 
 Quackenboss, John P- 
 Seaman, Caty 
 Ten Eyck, Anthony, Esq. 
 Tilman, Dirck 
 Van Everen, Maria 
 Waring, Richard 
 Willett, Elbert 
 Westerlo, Catharine 
 
380 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 Yates, John V. N. Esq. 
 
 SCHODAC. 
 
 Beekman, Martin 
 Ballantine, Ebenezer 
 Chesley David 
 Carpenter, Walter, Esq. 
 INTiller. John I. 
 Michael, Hendrick H. 
 Mesick, Jacob 
 Roorbach, John 
 Schermerhorn. Jacob C. 
 Schermerhorn, Ryer L. 
 ScUermerhorn, Cornelius 
 Van Dyck, Arent 
 
 KOTTINGHABI. 
 
 Appleton, Josiah 
 Appleton, Thomas 
 Cubberley, David 
 Croxon, William 
 Disbrow, Joseph, Esq. 
 Foord, William 
 Hutchinson, Amos, jun. 
 Hill, Smith 
 Quingley, Moses 
 W^yckoff, Jacob 
 
 NEWEURGH. 
 
 Amerman, Derick 
 Belknap, Isaac, jun. 
 Brown, John 
 Graham, William 
 Kerr, Robert 
 Moore, Charles 
 M'Aulay, John 
 Milliken, Nathaniel 
 IMillspaugh, Moses 
 Niven, D. 
 Robinson, Richard 
 Sleight, Eliza 
 Speir, Hugh 
 Shaw, John 
 Smedes, Jacob 
 Walsh, Hugh 
 Walsh, Jane 
 Waugh, James 
 
 NEW-WINDSOR. 
 
 Boyd, Robert, Esq. 
 Boyd, Agnes 
 Hutchinson, Isaac 
 Mackaness, Thomas, Esq. 
 
 GLOSTF.R. 
 
 Bogert, Samuel 
 Bleakley, Andrew 
 
 NKW-I5RIDGE. 
 
 Christie, Peter 
 
 FISH-KILL. 
 
 Delbitt, Johannes 
 
 SCHAGTICOKE. 
 
 Fort, John J. 
 Knickerbacken, Hendrick 
 
 JOHNSTOWN. 
 
 Lansing, Maria 
 
 STATEN-ISLAND. 
 
 Garritson, Hendrick 
 Garritson, Harmanus 
 Huughwout, Nicholas 
 Frail, Abraham 
 Van Pelt, Rev. Peter T. 
 Vreeland, Eder 
 
 CHARLSTON. 
 
 Wyckoff, Rev. Henry V. 
 
 ROCHESTER. 
 
 Westervelt, Ralph A. 
 
 EAST-WINDSOR. 
 
 Wilson, Robert, Esq. 
 
 KINDERHOOK. 
 
 Schermerhorn, John W. 
 Schermerhorn, Cornelius D. 
 Van Alstine, Philip 
 Van Alstine, Abraham P. 
 
 ROCKLAND-COUNTY. 
 
 Tallman, John 
 Tallman, Teunis 
 Tallman, Abraham 
 
 BETHLEHEM, 
 
 Rook, Christian 
 
 BROOKLYN. 
 
 Kirk, Thomas 
 
 BUSHWICK. 
 
 Collyer, Peter 
 Eadimore, James 
 Schenck, Peter T. 
 
 JAMAICA. 
 
 Faitout, George, Rev. 
 Lambertson, David 
 Rhodes, Abiathar 
 Schoonmaker, Rev. Jacob 
 
 FLATBUSH. 
 
 Antonides, John 
 Lowe, Rev. Peter 
 Lefferts, John 
 O'Blenis, Albert 
 Schenck, Tunis, jun. 
 Schoonmaker, Michael 
 Van Buren, Dr. William 
 
 NEWTOWN. 
 
 Leverich, William 
 
 SACKESONEY. 
 
 Lawrence, Silvanus 
 
SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 381 
 
 NARROWS. 
 
 Barkalovv, Rev. George 
 Bcnnct, Herman 
 Bennct, William 
 Duryee, Abraham 
 
 FLAT-LANDS. 
 
 Hegeman, Rem 
 Hubbard, Elias 
 
 GRAVESEND. 
 
 Stryker, Samuel 
 
 BEDFORD. 
 
 De Bevoise, Abraham 
 Remsen, Jeremiah 
 Suydam, Henry 
 
 FOSTER'S MEADOW. 
 
 Antonides, Peter 
 
 WALLABOCHT. 
 
 Vanderbilt, Jeremiah 
 
 NEW-UTRECHT. 
 
 Hegeman, Thomas 
 
 STATE OF NEW-JERSEY. 
 
 BERGEN. 
 
 C.!ornelison, Rev. John 
 Collerd, John 
 Demot, Michael 
 Garrcbrance, Cornelius 
 Outwater, Jacob 
 Prior, Jacob 
 Sickles, Peter 
 Sip, Peter 
 Traphagen, Henry 
 Van Wagenen, Jacob 
 Vreelandt, John G. 
 Vreeland, Stephen 
 Winne, Martin 
 
 SCRALENBERG. 
 
 Fraeligh, Rev. Solomon 
 Hardenbcrgh, Charles 
 Naugle, Garrit 
 Overbagh, Peter A. 
 
 NEWARK. 
 
 Abramse, Jacob 
 Boudinot, Catharine 
 Griffin, Rev. Edward 
 Mercer, Maria 
 
 ELrZABETH-TOWN. 
 
 De Camp, Dr. Gideon 
 De Hart, Uriah 
 Thomas, Mary 
 Thomas, Elizabeth 
 Williamson, Dr. Matthias H. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 Bonnel, Ithamar 
 Bryant, Simeon 
 Coe, Hester 
 Denman, Matthias 
 Halsey, Joseph, sen. 
 Lyon, Daniel 
 Parkhurst, Samuel 
 Parsell, William 
 Ross, Daniel 
 Salley, Elizabeth 
 Tayler, Samuel, Esq. 
 
 Wooley, Abraham, Esq. 
 Willis, Jacob 
 Wade, Uzal 
 
 CONNECTICUT-FARMS. 
 
 Hilliar, Phoebe 
 Lyon, Henry 
 Thompsoii, Stephen 
 Wade, Robert, Esq. 
 
 K AH WAY. 
 
 Clarkson, Abel 
 
 NEW-BRUNSWICK. 
 
 Ayres, Hannah 
 Bayard, John, Esq. 
 Brown, Isaac V. 
 Croes, Rev. John 
 Crommeline, Julia Ann 
 Caldwell, Maria 
 Dennis, Susan 
 Deare, Frances 
 Eastburn, Abigail 
 Grant, Rev. Ebenezer 
 Guest, Moses 
 Johnston, Martha Ann 
 Johnston, Eliza M. 
 Kirkpatrick, Jane 
 Keaves, Alley 
 Lawson, William 
 Lindsay, Benjamin 
 Neilson, John, Esq. 
 Patterson, W^illiam, Esq. 
 Ryder, Andrew 
 Scott, Dr. Moses 
 Scott, Hannah 
 Schureman, James, Esq. 
 Schuyler, Abraham, Esq. 
 Swift, James 
 Shardlow, William 
 Van Deursen, Staats 
 Voorhees, Jacob 
 Voorhees, David 
 Voorhees, Martha 
 Wyckoff, Peter 
 
582 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 
 
 SIX-MILE RUN. 
 
 Snydam, Jacob 
 Voorhies, Jacob 
 
 MILLSTONE. 
 
 Frclinghuvsen, Frederick, Esq. 
 Strykcr, P. T. M. D. 
 
 SOMERSET. 
 
 Auten, Thomas 
 Blair, Robert 
 Cornell, Barciit 
 Talmage, Goyn 
 Talmage, Thomas 
 VandoeiTi, Berguii 
 WyckolT, Peter 
 Whitehead, Daniel 
 
 RARITAN. 
 
 Brokaw. John 
 Beekman, Cornelius 
 Dumont, Peter 
 Elmondorf, John 
 (ieorge, Lucas 
 Hughes, James 
 Middlesvvorlh, John N. 
 Veghte, Rynier 
 Simonson, Jolui 
 Simonsun, Cornelius 
 Van Dorn, Ellen 
 
 KNOWLTON. 
 
 Bebont, J,ohn 
 
 Linn, John 
 
 M' Farran, William 
 
 PRINCFTON. 
 
 Agnew, Daniel, Esq. 
 Anderson, Isaac 
 Ferguson, JShny G. 
 Gaw, Hetty 
 Gardinier, Hendrick 
 Gardineau, Ann 
 Hamilton, James 
 Hunt, Richard 
 Johnson, Thomas P. Esq. 
 Kelsey, Eliza 
 I^ittle, Grace 
 Lovebury, John 
 Martin, Sarah 
 Minto, Mary 
 Moore, Capt. James 
 Morford, Stephen 
 NeiU, William 
 Norris, Susan W. 
 Smith, Elizabeth F. 
 Smith, Ann 
 Stellc, Lydia 
 Simpson, John P. Esq. 
 
 Stockton. Richard, Esq. 
 Thompson, William 
 Thompson, John 
 Updike, Peter 
 
 KINGSTON. 
 
 Baileys, Robert 
 Baileys, Samuel 
 Cortelyou, Hendrick 
 Comfort, Rev. David 
 Cruzer, Frederick 
 Foort, Thomas 
 Garrison, George 
 Gulick, Maj. Johv. 
 Flight, Susanna 
 Longstreet, Aaron, jun. 
 Sunderland, John 
 Van Derveer, Cornelias 
 Van Dike, John, Esq. 
 Van Dike, Ir.aac 
 
 MAIDENHEAP. 
 
 Hunt, Reuben 
 Phillips, William 
 Phillips, Ralph 
 Phillips, John 
 Phillips, John, Esq. 
 Phillips, Dr. Joseph 
 Van Cleve, Aaron 
 
 HOPEWELL^ 
 
 Carpenter, John 
 Lott, Richard 
 
 TRENTON. 
 
 Burrows, Nathaniel 
 Dubois, Nicholas 
 
 CRANBURYv 
 
 Chambers, David 
 Campbell, Joseph 
 Hunt, Nathaniel, Esq. 
 Loit, Dr. Ralph P. 
 Snowden, Isaac 
 Woodhull, Rev. George S. 
 
 ALLKNTOWN. 
 
 Cornell, John 
 Haw, David 
 Imlay, Caroline 
 Montgomery, Robert 
 Quay, Lucy 
 
 MONPIOUTH. 
 
 Furman, Joseph, jun. 
 Gordon, Ezekiel 
 
 UPPER-FREEHOLD, 
 
 Harper, Henry 
 Hendrickson, John 
 Wyckoff, Samuel, sen. 
 Wyckoff, Garret 
 
SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES 
 
 383 
 
 ADDITIONAL NAMES. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Arm at, Thomas 
 Box, Paul 
 Eyre, Manuel, jun. 
 Flintham, William 
 Firth, John 
 Green, Rev. Ashbel 
 Houster, James 
 Lattimer, Thomas 
 Lorain, John, jun. 
 Milledoller, Rev. Philip 
 M' Mullen, John 
 Ralston, Robert 
 Steel, John 
 Stuart, James 
 Shults, Charles, jun. 
 Smiley, William 
 Smith, Jonathan 
 Slille, John 
 Stille, Mary 
 Smith, Ann 
 Stone, Rev. William 
 
 Taylor, W'iHiam, jun. 
 Wein, Silas E. 
 W^ilmen, Rev. Simon 
 
 BUCKS-COUNTY. 
 
 Cornell, Maria 
 Parker, John 
 
 LONG-HILL, N. J. 
 
 Cooper, John G. 
 
 PROVIJDENCF, R. I 
 
 Bowen, Jabez 
 Benson, George 
 Brown, Nicholas 
 Ilolman, David, jun. 
 llobart, Benjamin 
 Jones, William, Esq. 
 Jones, Thomas 
 Messier, Rev. Mr. 
 Miller, Moses 
 Park. Calvin 
 Plaud, Thomas 
 Snell, Ebenezer 
 
 ^>* Much pains has been bestozccd to render the list 
 of subscribers as correct and complete as possible; but as 
 several subscription-papers are still abroad, it is presum- 
 ed a number of names are omitted The prevailing 
 
 epidemic in Neic-York, zcliich obliged the publishers to 
 leave the city, ivill plead excuse for the delaij in deliver- 
 ing the second volume. 
 
 THE END. 
 
r 
 
a^