tant words in them unbounded joys are comprehended, paradise itself, all heaven, is here describ. ed; all that is possible to be uttered of celestial blessedness is here contained.

My God, my all-sufficient good,
My portion, and my choice:
In thee my vast desires are fill'd,

And all my pow'rs rejoice.

My God, my triumph, and my glory, let others boast of what they will, and pride themselves in human securities; let them place their confidence in their wealth, their honour, and their numerous friends; I renounce all earthly dependence, and glory only in my God.

From him alone my joy's shall rise,

And run eternal rounds,
Beyond the limits of the skies,

And all created bounds.

When death shall remove all other supports, and force me to quit my title to the dearest names below, in my God I shall have an unchangeable propriety: That engagement shall remain firm when I shall lose my hold of all other enjoyments; when all human things vanish with an everlasting flight, I shall bid them a joyful adieu, and breathe out my soul with this triumphant exclamation, Thou art my God, my inheritance, my eternal possession; nor death, nor hell, shall ever separate me from thy love.

Thou art my God. Let me survey the extent of my blessedness; let me take a prospect of my vast po-session; let me consider its dimensions; O height! O depth! O length and breadth immea surable! I have all that is worth possessing; thou art my God.

But what have I uttered? Is mortality permitted to speak these daring words? Can the race of man make such glorious pretensions? Thou thyself canst give no more; thou that art thy own. happiness, and the spring of joy to all thy creatures; with thee are the fountains of pleasure, and in thy presence is fulness of joy; immortal life and happiness flow from thee; and they are necessa rily blessed who are surrounded with thy favour; thou art their God, and thou art my God, to everlasting ages.

Earth flies with all the charms it has in store,

Its snares and gay temptations are no more.

Creatures no more of entity can boast,

The streams, the hills, and tow'ring groves are lost. the stars, and the fair fields of light

The sun,

Withdraw, and now are vanish'd from my sight,
And God is all in all.

XII. Confession of sin, with hope of pardon.

BREAK, break, insensible heart! Let confusion cover me, and darknes, black as my own guilt, surround me. Lord, what a monster am 1 become? How hateful to myself for offending thee? How

much more detestable to thee, to thee against whom I have offended? Why have I provoked the God on whom my being every moment depends? The God, who out of nothing advanced me to a reasonable and immortal nature, and put me in a capacity of being happy for ever? The God whose goodness has run parallel with my life; who has preserved me in a thousand dangers, and kept me even from the ruin I courted, and even while I pined at the providence that saved me.

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How often has he recovered me from eternal misery, and brought me back from the very borders. of hell, when there was but a dying groan, but one faint sigh between me and everlasting perdition When all human help failed, and my mournful friends were taking their last farewells; when every smiling hope forsook me, and the horrors of death surrounded me, to God I cried from the depths of misery and despair; I cried, and he was entreated, and rescued my life from destruction; he "brought me out of the miry clay, and set my "feet upon a rock." A thousand instances of thy goodness could I recount, and all to my own confusion.

Could I consider thee as my enemy, I might forgive myself; but when I consider thee as my best" friend, my tender. Father, the sustainer of my life, and the author of my happiness, good God! what a monstrous thing do I appear, who have sinned a

gainst thee? Could I charge thee with severity, or call thy laws rigorous and unjust, I had some excuse; but I am silenced there by the conviction of my own reason, which assents to all thy precepts as just and holy. But to heighten my guilt, I have violated the sacred rules I approve; I have provoked the justice I fear, and offended the purity I adore.

Yet still there are higher aggravations of my iniquity; and what gives me the utmost confusion is, that I have sinned against unbounded love and goodness; horrid ingratitude! Here lies the emphasis. of my folly and misery; the sense of this torments me, can I not say, as much as the dread of hell, or the fears of losing heaven? Thy love and tender compassion, the late pleasing subjects of my thoughts, are, on this account, become my terror. The titles of an enemy and a judge scarce sound more painful to my ears, than those of a friend and benefactor, which so shamefully enhance my guilt: those sacred names confound and terrify my soul, because they furnish my conscience with the most exquisite reproaches; the thoughts of such goodness abused, and such clemency affronted, seem to me almost as insupportable, as those of thy wrath and severity.

O whither shall I turn? I dare not look upward; the sun and stars upbraid me there. If I look downward, the fields and fountains take their

Creator's part, and heaven and earth conspire to aggravate my sins; those common blessings tell me, how much I am indebted to thy bounty; but, Lord, when I recall thy particular favours, I am utterly confounded; what numerous instances could I recount? Nor has my rebellion yet shut up the fountain of thy grace, for yet I breathe, and yet I live, and live to implore a pardon: heaven is still open, and the throne of God accessible. But oh with what confidence can I approach it? What motives can I urge, but such as carry my own condemnation in them?

Shall I urge thy former pity and indulgence? This were to plead against myself; and yet thy clemency, that clemency which I have abused, is the best argument I can bring; thy grace and clemency, as revealed in Jesus, the Son of thy love, the blessed reconciler of God and man.

O whither has my folly reduced me? With what words shall I chuse to address thee?" Par"don my iniquity, O Lord, for it is great:" Surprising argument! yet this will magnify thy goodness, and yield me an eternal theme to praise thee: it will add an emphasis to all my grateful songs, and tune my harp to everlasting harmony. The ransomed of the Lord shall join with me, while this glorious instance of thy grace excites their wonder, and my unbounded gratitude: thus shall thy glory be exalted.