mighty love watches over thee, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Till these fail, thy faith cannot fail. O what powerful motives are these to induce thee to believe without wavering! Consider them carefully. And may the Lord render then the means of strengthening thy faith, and of thereby enabling thee to cleave more closely in love to thy heavenly Father.

It may be, thou art hindered from living by unshaken faith, because thou hast so little love to God-he ought to have all thy heart and soul, and mind, and strength, but it grieves thee to observe what a small part he has of them. This view is always humbling. Our love, at best, is not what it ought to be. It is not constant: it ebbs and flows. It is not perfect the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit. It is not what God deserves, as payment for love received: who will compute the full value of his love to one redeemed sinner? On earth it surpasseth knowledge. In heaven it surpasseth all returns of praise. The highest love of glorified saints is only acknowledgment, but not payment.

They are perfectly humble, and therefore willing that God should have all the glory of their salvation. To him they ascribe it. The same mind in thee would refine thy love, and make it something like theirs. When thou art considering thy love to God, and ashamed at the sight of it, then look at his. Look especially at his, when thine is little. Believing views of his, will increase thine. Thine has nothing else to excite it, or to nourish it. Thou art not called upon to warm thyself with the sparks of thy love to God, but with the pure constant flame of his love to thee. His is to keep up thine.' His is the first cause, and thine is but the effect. The experience of his, will heal all the infirmities of thine. When thy love is little, unsettled, cold, and dull, then study the divine properties of his: these rightly understood will increase, settle, warm, and actuate thine affections. By believing meditation thou wilt find a pardon provided for thy little love: the sense of it will comfort thy conscience. Thy heart will grow hot within thee: while thou art musing, the fire

will kindle. It will break out. Thou wilt speak with thy tongue praise and thanksgiving to thy loving God and Father.

thou hast taken

Thou art willing then, O my soul, and ready to set out to follow thy God. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, thou hast chosen him for thy portion, and in a constant dependence upon his grace, his way for thy daily walk. How great is the love, wherewith he loveth thee! Survey it. Measure, if thou canst, the dimensions of it in thine own particular case. The more thou art acquainted with it, the readier wilt thou be to give him all the glory of it, and to make such acknowledgments as these:

I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not; my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that being justified by faith, I have found peace and free access to a reconciled. God. We are agreed, and now I desire to walk with him. He is my Father in Jesus, and I know he has bowels of the tenderest affection for me. I ought not, it would be base in me, to question it, since he has shed

his love abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost; who has made me of one mind, of one heart, and of one way with himself. His way is become mine: for he has reconciled me to it, by causing me to see that he has chosen me freely, as an object of his electing love, that he gave his Son to finish salvation work for me, and that he has now given his Spirit to me, who has called me, and given me ears to hear, who has bestowed on me faith and hope, and has enabled me to look upon these, as fruits of the Father's covenant grace, and everlasting favour. O what exceeding riches of love are these! If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. What am I, that I should be accepted in the beloved? His Father is mine. He sees me, loves me; yea, blesses me in him. My title is clear to all spiritual blessings, because God, being my God in Jesus, all things are mine. He will make them all work together for my good. He that with-held not his own Son, but gave him for me, how shall he not, with him, freely give me all things? Having his free grant of them in the word of

promse, and trusting to his faithfulness, I have set out to walk with my divine Friend and Father, hoping to enjoy his loving presence all the way to heaven. I would not aim at getting any new title to his love, but to have new enjoyment. Every day I am seeking for more knowledge, and for more experience of his abundant love to me in his beloved Son. And for this end, I would walk close with him in his way-not to buy his love; it is inestimable -not to merit it; free grace and merit cannot stand together-not that I may deserve it for my walk, but may freely receive it of him in my walk-not that he may give it me for walking with him; but that in walking with him, I may enjoy what he has already given me. His love is a free gift. I would, by faith, enjoy it in time, as I hope, by sense, to enjoy it in eternity. Whatever blessing, strength, victory, or comfort, I stand in need of, I look to the fulness which he has laid up in Jesus, and from thence I receive it. I read my title to it, and I take possession of it, for nothing done in me or by me, now or at any other time, but only in and for the