^ Isai. Ixvi, 2. e pg, cxxvi. 6.
hasting unto, the coming of that blessed day." But, suppose that your night of weeping were to continue to the very hour of your dissolution, how short would it appear, when once that morning burst upon your view ! Are you not ashamed that you should ever grudge the seed for such a harvest ? Will not one hour of that glory be an ample recompence for all the exer- tions you ever made for the attainment of it? Go on, then, with heaven in your view : and hve m the sweet anticipation of the glory that awaits you. Methinks the very prospect of such a morning constitutes its very dawn, and wiU be to your souls tlie commencement of heaven upon earth.]
Ps. XXX. 6 — 12. In my prosperity I said, I shall never he moved : Lord, hy thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, 0 Lord; and unto the Lord I made suppli- cation : What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit ? Shall the dust praise thee ? shall it declare thy truth ? Hear, 0 Lord, and have mercy upon me ! Lord, be thou my helper ! Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing ; thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness ; to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent : 0 Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
AMONGST all the friends of vital godliness it is supposed that Christian experience is well under- stood: but it is a lamentable truth, that those in general who think themselves best acquainted with it, are exceedingly mistaken with respect to some of its most important parts. The distinctive offices of faith and unbelief, of confidence and fear, are by no means clearly defined in the minds either of minis- ters or people ; on the contrary, they are often so confounded as to produce very serious evils ; for by the misconceptions respecting them many are in- structed to shun what God approves, and to cultivate what he abhors. For instance ; A persuasion that we are God's elect people, and that we are in no danger of perishing, is recommended by many as the root and summit of Christian faith ; whilst a fear lest we should have deceived ourselves, or should