may constrain us freely and willingly to please thee in the constant exercise of piety and devotion, righteousness and mercy, meekness and patience, truth and fidelity; with such a humble, contented, and peaceable spirit, as may adorn the religion of our Lord and Master. O God, grant that these holy desires and inclinations may never die nor languish in our hearts, but be kept alive in their vigour and force, by the perpetual inspiration of the Holy Ghost. In these holy thoughts and desires, we now commend ourselves to thy protection this night, who hast preserved and blessed us all the day past. We repose ourselves in the belief of thy good providence, with which we entrust ourselves, and all belonging to us. We would lay ourselves down to sleep with hearts full of love to thee, and humble faith and hope in thee; and when we awake may we be still with thee. pose us, good Lord, by the rest thou givest us, to serve thee more zealously with our renewed spirits; that after the few days and nights we have to pass in this world, we may come to thy eternal rest with Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen. Dis Meditation for Wednesday Morning. "Wherefore he is able also to save them "to the uttermost, that come unto God by "him, seeing he ever liveth to make interces"sion for them."-Heb. vii. 25. was Our Lord Jesus Christ was able to save from the beginning; from the first promise to our fallen parents to the present day has the seed of the woman been bruising the serpent's head. By faith in him the elders obtained a good report, and died in expectation of a better resurrection. Their faith embraced him according to the degree in which he revealed; they saw his day in a distant prospect, and rejoiced, and were admitted to the divine favour, and to eternal happiness above. He appeared able to save when he dwelt on earth in a tabernacle of clay still he mingled the dignity and power of a God, with the abasements and infirmities of a mortal man; asserting to himself the divine prerogative of forgiving sins: speaking of of a glorious resurrection, and eternal life, as his gift; representing himself as the head stone of the corner, on whom was fixed all the stress of men's eternal interests; and as the awful judge, before whose tribunal the greatest of the children of men should stand, and from whom all should receive that decisive sentence, which should fix them in final happiness, or despair; nay, even in his deepest humiliation on the cursed tree, a ray of divine glory broke through the dark cloud of infamy with which he was then surrounded; and midst all the scorn and rage of insulting enemies, who were reproaching him as a wretch abandoned by God and man, he speaks from the cross as from the throne, and as the king of heaven, takes upon him to dispose of seats in Paradise! If he were thus able to save, when he dwelt in so humble a form, how much more so is he amidst all the magnificence of his exaltation in the highest heaven; whither he has ascended, as a glorious conqueror, having led captivity captive and received gifts of men? Can we believe that his arm has less power to save, or his ear heavy that he cannot hear? No! we may assure ourselves, that he is at this moment as able to exert an almighty power for the salvation of his people, as he was on that illustrious day, when he poured out the Spirit on his disciples, at the Feast of Penticost; or when he appeared to Paul on the way to Damascus with the glories of heaven When new upon him, even with lustre exceeding that of the meridian sun! Still is our Redeemer able to save, and shall continue to be so. we and our children are laid in the dust of death, he shall be the joy and confidence of a new race of believers; and to the very end of time, one generation shall rise, and declare his righteousness to another, and that righteousness shall be the same! This foundation of God shall stand sure, though rocks moulder into dust, and the mountains are removed out of their place; yea, when the sun shall fade away in its orb, and all the golden lamps of these lower heavens are extinguished, the sun of glory shall shine forth with undiminished radiancy: still his victorious energy shall continue the same, and it shall be as true of his power as of his grace, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever! Blessed Jesus! dost thou remember such worthless worms amidst all thine honour and joy above, and shall we not remember thee the King of Glory? Where should our hearts be but with thee? On what should we set our affections, but on those things which are above, where thou sittest at the right-hand of God? Our righteousness, our strength, our advocate, and our guardian, shall we be unmindful of thee? While thou art pleading our cause in heaven, shall we not be joyfully willing to plead thy sacred cause on earth? Rather-much rather-may we forget the powers of reason, and lose the faculties of speech, than neglect to use them for thee: rather may our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth, than it should be afraid to vindicate thy Gospel: and may we so confess thee before men that we may be confessed of thee before thy Father and his holy angels! Amen. HYMN. Who shall the Lord's elect condemn ? Who shall adjudge the saints to hell? Behold him rising from the dead. He lives, he lives, and sits above Or what should tempt us to despair, Shall persecution, or distress, |