harbour of rest above; may Chrift come to be pilot, fteer the helm, and it fhall be fafe. O for more faith! may my faith ripen to a full af-, furance, that I may go off the stage rejoicing, and that abundant entrance may be miniftered to me into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift. Ŏ for more faith! that I may die like Simeon, when he had Christ in his arms, faying, "Now let thy fervant depart in peace, mine eyes have feen thy falvation." Lord, one fmile of thy countenance would banish away all my doubts and fears, and make me fing in pain. Is my Redeemer gone to prepare a place for us; why fhould I be fo flothful to follow his footsteps, when he is faying, "Come up hither;" come up, dwell here; come up, reign here; come up, fing here. O Lord, deliver my foul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. O fave me from the. horrible pit, draw me out of the miry clay, fet my feet upon a rock, and establish my goings, and put a new fong in my mouth. Ŏ give grace to ftrive by faith and prayer, to enter in at the strait gate. Lord, thou haft bid me knock, and it fhall be opened, afk, and ye fhall find Lord, I knock, open unto me; I would be in, I must be in; let me but in over the threshold; let me in within fight of my Redeemer's face, within fight of the fmiles of his countenance, let me within hearing of the fongs of the redeemed; let me get to the out fide of that praising company; I will be well enough if I get in. Lord, in I must be, out I cannot ftay: O fhut me not out with fwearers, fabbath-breakers, and profane perfons: Lord, I never chufed their company while in this world; Lord, do not gather my foul with finners hereafter. The redeemed are gathering, and the wicked are gathering; Lord, gather me with thy flock :-They are faft a-gathering; the church's head is gone; he has left the earth, and entered into his glory; my brethren and friends, many of them have arrived where he is; I am yet behind. O how great is the difference betwixt my ftate and theirs. I am groaning out my complaint, they they are finging God's praife: I am in darkness, and cannot fee thy face, but they behold thee face to face. O fhould I be fatisfied to stay behind, when my friends are gone? Shall I wander here in a hungry defart, when they are triumphing above and dividing the spoil? O help me to look after them with a ftedfaft eye, and cry, O Lord, how long? O heavenly Father, draw me after Jefus, for none can come to him without thy aid. O Father, draw me up there where he is, and I will mount up as on eagle's wings. O draw me, and when thou feemeft to fly from me, Lord enable me to follow hard after thee. Lord give me the staff of promife in my hand, that I may go over Jordan with it; O give me fuch a promife as that, "When thou paffeft through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they fhall not overflow thee. When thou walkeft through the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither fhall the flame kindle upon thee." : Lord, my experiences are fmall, my manifeftations are few thefe I will not lean to: yet I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, from the Hermonites, and from the hill Mizar. Why art thou caft down, O my foul, and why difquieted within me! Hope thou in God, for I fhall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God. O thou who rememberedft the dying thief when on the way to thy kingdom, O remember me when now feated in thy kingdom, and fay to my foul, when I am dying, "This day fhalt thou be with me in paradise." Lord, I am called to the work I never did, O give me the ftrength I never had. O ftrengthen me like Samfon for this once when at death, to pull down the strong holds of fin in me. Lord, wash away my fins in the blood of Chrift, and then my soul shall not fink in the ocean of thy wrath. O what is my life but a vapour! a fand-glass of fixty or feventy years! O how faft does it run down! How foon runs it out! Vain, vain is the love of life! O give me grace to overcome the love of life, and the fear of death. O for more patience and lefs fretting. If the damned had hope of being faved from hell after a thousand years of my pain, how willingly would they endure it. Bleffd be God, my pains are not hell, their ftate is not mine. Lord, draw near to me, and fave me; my body is full of trouble, and my life draws near to the grave. But, Lord, thy loving kindness is better than life. O make thy loving kindness fure to me, and I will willingly part with this dying life. O that I could make all the world fee the beauty of my precious and adorable Saviour ! Nothing but an intereft in Chrift can give peace in life, or comfort in death. He is the chief among ten thoufand, altogether lovely. My body is in part dead, but I know I cannot die eternally while Jefus lives. I must go down to the grave; but what is the grave?It is but a refining pot, fince my Saviour lay in it, it is but a bed of rofes. He is the Rofe of Sharon, and the Lilly of the valley. It was his free grace that drew me, and made me willing in the day of his power; no defire, no merit in me; it was all free and undeserved. O let the chastisement of my body be the medicine of my foul, to cure me of fin, and bring me to fincere repentance for it; for Chrift was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him. Lord, remember the chastisement of Chrift for fin, and let my pains be the chaftifement of a father, and not the wounds of an enemy; let Chrift's fufferings mitigate mine. I rejoice in the prospect of that glorious inheritance referved fafe. I would not comfortably enter eternity any other way but in and through this God man mediator; if he was not God as well as man, I could not be fupported :--but he is God. O this precious Saviour, he is my all in all, he is my all-fufficient good, my portion and my choice; in him my vaft defires are fulfilled, and all my powers rejoice, I am travelling through a wildernefs to a city of habitation, whofe builder and maker is God. O delightful O delightful thought! that I, who was going on n fin, fhould be plucked as a brand out of the burning. O bow will they lie on a death-bed, that have nothing but their works to fly to; with only this to depend on, I fhould be the moft miferable of all creatures; but the long white robe of my Redeemer's righteoufnefs is all my defire. They are truly bleffed, they alone are happy, who are enabled to exult in the garment of celeftial glory, which never waxeth old, in the illuftrious robes of a Saviour's confummate righteoufnefs, which are incorruptible and immortal. This is a robe which hides every fin, of thought, word, or deed, that I have committed. O how unfpeakably happy are they who are juftified by this all-perfect righteoufnefs of the Lord Jefus Chrift, and who therein can conftantly triumph and glory. Lord, I live upon Chrift, I live upon his righteoufnefs, I live upon his blood and merits; yea, I die also, leaning wholly upon this bottom. It is not paft experiences or manifeftations I depend upon; it is Chrift, a prefent all-fufficient Saviour, and perfect righteousness in him I look to. All my attainments are but lofs and dung befides him. When I find myself polluted, I go to this fountain for cleaning. Lord give me delight in approaching to thee;-delight to be at a throne of grace. O that I could make my bed there, lie and die there.. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the vio lent take it by force. O for ftrength to offer a holy violence by faith and prayer. THE THE AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION: OR, A DIRECTORY FOR A FAMILY OR PERSON UNDER AFFLICTION, M THE INTRODUCTION. AN, when he first dropped from his Maker's hands, was a holy and innocent creature, pure from fin, and confequently free from fickness and trouble, enjoying uninterrupted health and profperity both ... in body and foul. But no fooner was he tainted with fin, but he became liable to all forts of miferies, temporal, fpiritual, and eternal; his foul being the refidence of his fins and lufts, his body turned the receptacle of ficknefs and diseases. And feeing God's own children have ths relics of fin and corruption in them while in this world, they are not to expect exemption from fuch afBlictions; and the infinitely wife God fees meet to make ufe of bodily diftempers to correct the corruptions, and try the graces, of his people, and to promote both their fpiritual and eternal advantage. Hence it is faid of LazaTus, John xi. 3. "Behold, he whom thou loveft is fick." He was beloved, and yet fick. It is, no rate thing for the deareft of God's faints to be put to chatter like cranes, and mourn like doves, by reafon of fore sickness, as Hezekiah did, Ifa. xxxviii. 14. Sanctified and healthy fouls may be matched with weak and fickly bodies, as was Gaius, 3 John 2. Notwithstanding the cafe is fometimes moft trying and exercifing to the beft of God's people, and they are never more ready to question God's love, or quarrel with his Providence, than under heavy VOL. I. fickness D |