With Joseph thou wentest down into Egypt, and didst deliver him out of all his adversities, till he forgot his sorrows, and all the toil of his father's house.

Thou didst remember thy people in the Egyptian bondage, and look with pitying eyes on their affliction; and after four hundred and thirty years, on the very day thou hadst promised, didst release and bring them out with triumph and miracles. Thy presence went with them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and a protecting fire by night; thy conquering hand drove out great and potent nations, and gave them an entire possession of the land promised to their fathers: nor didst thou fail in the least circumstance of all the good things thou hast promised.

What a cloud of witnesses stand on record? Joshua and Gideon, Jephtha and Samson, who through faith obtained promises.

Thou didst command the ravens to feed thy holy prophet, and at the word of a prophet didst sustain the widow's family with a handful of meal.

Thou didst walk with the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace; thou wast present with Daniel in the lion's den to deliver him, because he trusted in thee.

In what instance has the prayer of faith been rejected? Where were the righteous forsaken? Who can charge God, without charging him fool

ishly? What injustice has been found in the Judge of all the earth? His glorious titles have stood unblemished from generation to generation; nor can any of his perfections decay, or rolling. years make a change on the Ancient of days.

Are not his words clear and distinct, without a double meaning, or the least deceit? Are they not such as may justly secure my confidence; such as would satisfy me from the mouth of man, unconstant man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and his foundation in the dust, unstable as water, and fleeting as a shadow? And can I so slowly assent to the words of the Most High? Shall I trust impotent man, that has neither wisdom nor might to accomplish his designs, that cannot call the next breath or motion his own, nor promise himself a moment in all futurity? Can I rest on these feeble props, yet tremble and despond, when I have the veracity of the eternal God to secure and support me ?

and

I know he will not break his covenant, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail; I dare attest it in the face of earth and hell, I dare stake my all for time and eternity, on this glorious truth, a truth which hell cannot blemish, nor all its malice contradict.

Exert yourselves, ye powers of darkness, bring in your evidence, collect your instances, begin from the first generations since the world was peopled,

when did they call in vain? when did the Holy One of Israel fail the expectation of the humble and contrite spirit? Point out, in your blackest characters, the dismal period, when the name of the Lord was no more a refuge to them that trusted in him. Let the annals of hell be produced, let them mark the dreadful day, and distinguish it with eternal triumphs.

In vain you search; for neither heaven, nor earth, nor hell, have ever been witness to the least deviation from truth or justice; the Almighty shines with unblemished glory, to the confusion of hell, and the consolation of those that put their trust in him.

On thy eternal truth and honour, I entirely cast myself; if I am deceived, I am deceived; angels and archangels are deluded too; they, like me, have no dependence beyond the divine veracity for their blessedness and immortality; they hang all their hopes on his goodness and immutability; if that fails, the celestial paradise vanishes, and all its glories are extinct; the golden palaces sink, and the seraphic thrones must totter and fall. Where are your crowns, ye spirits elect? Where are your songs and your triumphs, if the truth of God can. fail? A mere possibility of that would darken the fields of light, and turn the voice of melody into grief and lamentation.

What pangs would rise even through all the re

gions of blessedness; what diffidence and fear would shake the heart of every inhabitant; what agonies surprize them all, could the word of the Most High God be cancelled? The pillars of heaven might then tremble, and the everlasting mountains bow; the celestial foundations might be moved from their place, and that noblest structure of the hands of God be chaos, and eternal emptiness.

But for ever " "just and true are thy ways, thou "King of saints; blessed are all they that put their "trust in thee?" for thou art a certain refuge in the day of distress, and under the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice. "My soul shall make her "boast in the Lord, and triumph in his salvation; "I called on him in my distress, and he has deli"vered me from all my fears."-Hallelujah.

Here I dismiss my carnal hope,

My fond desires recall;

I give my mortal int'rest up,

And make my God my all.

XXXIV. Glory to God for salvation by Jesus and his blood.

LET me give glory to God before I die, and take shame and confusion to myself. I ascribe my sal vation to the free and absolute goodness of God. Not by the strength of reason, or any natural incli

"what I am" O my Redeemer, be the victory, be the glory thine. I expect eternal life and happiness from thee, not as a debt, but a free gift, a promised act of bounty. How poor would my expectations be, if I only looked to be rewarded according to those works, which my own vanity, or the partiality of others have called good, and which, if examined by the divine purity, would prove but specious sins? As such I renounce them: pardon them, gracious Lord, and I ask no more; nor can hope for that, but through the satisfaction which hath been made to divine justice for the sins of the world.

O Jesus, my Saviour, what harmony dwells in thy name! celestial joy, immortal life is in the

sound.

Sweet name! in thy each syllable

A thousand bless'd Arabia's dwell;
Mountains of myrth, and beds of spices,
And ten thousand paradises.

Let angels set this name to their golden harps; let the redeemed of the Lord for ever magnify it.

O my propitious Saviour, where were my hopes, but for thee? How desperate, how undone were my circumstances? I look on myself, in every view I can take, with horror and contempt. I was born in a state of misery and sin, and in my best estate am altogether vanity. With the utmost advantages I can boast, I shrink back, I tremble to

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