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of his promises made in Jesus-to wait on him for his answers-and to give him his glory. O what blessed seasons hast thou enjoyed in this communion with thy God! How has he manifested his nearness to thee, and bounty towards thee! Hast thou not found his heart open, his ears open, and his hands open to grant thee the request of thy lips? And when thou hast not found such sweet fellowship with thy God in prayer, yet thy dependence on his faithful word has been exercised and improved. Thou hast left thy petitions with thy friend and advocate, trusting to that most glorious description of him in Rev. viii. 3, 4. "And another angel came ❝and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and "there was given unto him much incense, that he should "offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden "altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke "of the incense, which came with the prayers of the "saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." O thou great Angel of the covenant, thus present my prayers. They are nothing worth, but as perfumed with thy divine odours. Let them ever ascend before God out of thy hand with the smoke of the incense of thy sacrifice and intercession. Blessed Spirit of prayer increase my faith, that I may trust more to a prayerhearing God and Father, who is always ready to grant every good thing promised to his children in Christ Jesus. Amen.

PRAISE and prayer go together. The prayer of faith will afford continual matter for praise. The one is a dependence on God for every promised blessing, the other is the acknowledgment of his having bestowed it. Innocent man had his heart in this sweet work. It was his happiness. Every breath in paradise was praise. The redeemed man has more reason. His obligations are far greater, than Adam was under, to his God-raised from his fall-saved from the guilt and misery of it-chosen and called to this salvation by mere grace-through faith a partaker of it-an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ, O what motives are these,

to continual thankfulness! And these motives are effectual, when the Holy Spirit discovers the things that are freely given to us of God. He makes us sensible of them and thankful for them: for he preserves in the soul a blessed poverty of spirit, an humble abiding sense of wants and unworthiness, and thus he lays a sure foundation for thankfulness. Every blessing is then received with a-Why me? what am I; and what is my Father's house, that God should deal thus bountifully with me? I must refer it all to the praise of the glory of his own grace. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed me with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ. All these blessings flow from the Father's love in his Son, and the Holy Spirit has discovered to me that boundless ocean of love, and has often refreshed me with its life-giving streams. He has made known to me the good pleasure of the Father's will, which he had purposed in himself, to choose me by his distinguishing grace to be one of his children, and through faith in Jesus Christ I read my adoption, and take possession of the inheritance of children. Mine experience of these blessings cannot be questioned, while I am receiving out of the fulness of Jesus grace for grace. O how great is my debt! It is equal to the eternal Three: so should my gratitude be. It is very meet, right, and my bounden duty, that I should at all times, and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God; therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven I laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God of hosts: heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen.

May such as this, Ö my soul, be thy daily tribute of thanks! Consider what thou owest to thy God; how great are his favours, how many, how endless; and bestowed on the most unworthy. Review his goodness in giving thee being, and in preserving it. Remember

from how many dangers and pains he has delivered thee: what health and creature comforts he has vouchsafed of his mere bounty; and what a monument of his long suffering thou art. O what a miracle! that one, like thee, should be out of hell. Then put to the account spiritual favours, what blessing thou hast received from the Father's love in Jesus; what blessings thou art intitled to in him, not only in time, but also in eternity. Cast up the mighty sum, and say, How much it is. Canst thou tell the numbers thereof? No. It is beyond the power of the greatest arithmetician. If thou couldst write a figure upon every atom in the creation, thou wouldst want a new world, whereon to sum up the vast account for thy mercies reach to the heaven of heavens, and they are also everlasting. Then consider to whom thou art thus indebted. Is it not to a justly offended God, who might have glorified all his perfections in punishing thee for thy sins? Whereas in wonderful grace he has chosen and called thee to the adoption of Sons. He is thy Father. This is the spring of all thy mercies. In love he gave his Son to finish thy salvation. And his spirit has brought thee to believe in it, and to enjoy it. This is the source of all thy praise. The object of thanksgiving is thy covenant God, who is related to thee in such a bond of love, as will bring thee under eternal obligations. Thou art therefore in all thy praise to remember thy relation to Father, Son, and Spirit, thy debt to them for that most blessed relation, thy growing, ever growing debt. Praise will pay none of it. The saints in glory do but acknowledge it. While they are praising more, the sum is increasing. O my soul, beg of thy God to give thee grace, that thine acknowledgments may be in some measure like theirs. They are crying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God, giving glory for the Father's love in Jesus, and for their experience of it by the eternal Spirit. May this subject be thine, more spiritual, more holy every day, till it be what theirs is, perfect and without intermission. Since it is thy privilege, O my soul, to pray to thy

covenant God and to praise him for covenant mercies, then thou wilt highly prize the holy SCRIPTURES; because without them thou canst not know what to pray for, nor what is indeed a mercy. Thy faith has nothing to stand upon but the word of God, and nothing to praise him for, but mercies therein promised, and by believing received. O how dear then should his word be to thee; how greatly studied, how diligently heard, that by it thou mayest grow in every grace, which is needful for thy holy walk with God. It is the appointed means by which the Holy Spirit acts. It is his great instrument in beginning and carrying on spiritual life. He opens the understanding to know the scriptures, he inclines the will and the affections to receive them in the love of the truth, and he influences the whole man to submit to live under the obedience of faith. Whatever strength, victory, comfort, or blessing of any kind he bestows, it comes by obeying the truth through the Spirit. So that thou canst not go on in thy walk with God but by constant and believing use of the scriptures. They should be thy study night and day, heard and read carefully, mixed with faith, treasured up in thy memory, received into thy heart, and brought into thy life, and all by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, in order to thine enjoyment of the promised blessings of the Father's love through the Son's salvation. Thus the word will be the means of thy maintaining fellowship with the blessed Trinity. By mixing faith with it thou wilt be constantly receiving from them covenant mercies; and so thou wilt go forward. Thy steps will be ordered aright according to the word, and thy way will be prosperous.

Consider then, O my soul, whether thou art making this use of the scriptures. Dost thou find the means of thy growth in divine knowledge, in faith and love? Do they really promote thy communion with God, and on that account are they daily more thy study, and thy delight? Never think of hearing or reading them without praying for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that VOL. I.

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they may be the means of keeping up fellowship with thy Father in Jesus. For this end they were revealed, and if this end be not answered they profit thee nothing. Make it then thy constant practice before hearing, to pray for a spiritual appetite, that as new born babes desire milk, so thou mayest hunger and thirst for the good word of life-in hearing, beg of God, that thou mayest feed upon the word and digest it, and thine inward man may be nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine-after hearing, pray for a sanctified memory to treasure up for use, what thou hast learnt, that as occasion shall serve it may be realized; and brought into practice, thy life and conversation being cast into the mould of the word. With the same dependence on thy divine Teacher read, as well as hear, the scriptures. Meditate on them. Converse about them, expecting to find them able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, and as thy faith in him increases, able to bring in richer experience of thy Father's love in him.

How sweet is prayer, how delightful is praise, how blessed is hearing and reading the word, when these are the means of meeting and conversing with God! His presence puts the highest honour upon them, and exalts duty into a royal privilege: for he is present as a Father with his children. O what a dignity is it to have God for our Father! What an happiness to have free fellowship with him in this dearest relation? In thy daily hearing and reading his word, observe, O my soul, what is spoken of this holy fellowship; and seek to maintain it, and to improve it in every appointed way, particularly in keeping the command of thy dying friend.

Do this in remembrance of me. When his disciples meet together for this purpose, then place the whole dependence of thy heart upon thy crucified Saviour. Considering the infinite and everlasting efficacy of the sacrifice of his body and soul to take away sin, draw near in faith to feast upon it: for his flesh is meat in

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