"He it. "Call upon me, and I will anfwer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Our gracious Redeemer says, that loveth me fhall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." This is a fufficient warrant for our prayers and expectations in God's way. We have the divine precept to direct and regulate our defires, and the promise of grace to encourage our hope of fuccefs. God has promised great things to those who seek him, and his promifes have been made good in inftances without number. What that token for good was, for which holy David prayed, Pf. lxxxvi. 17. I will not pofitively determine; but without doubt it was fome evidence of God's favour to him, in his ordinances, or by his providence, for the confirmation of his faith, the quickening of his foul, and the comforting of his heart. It must be owned, if this man after God's own heart, had some special ground to expect extraordinary manifestations of divine power in his favour, in a miraculous way, it becomes not us to follow his example in this inftance. We have no fuch ground to go upon as he might have. Let us adhere to the law and to the testimony, and look for fuch tokens of the divine favour as God has promised to afford. The ཅེར་ར... The ordinances of God are tokens of his favour. He gave the fabbath to Ifrael as a fign of his being their sovereign, as a nation. The ark was a token of his prefence, as the word and ordinances are aGod forbid that we fhould be deprived mong us. of thefe indications of his mercy. A famine of the word would be a fore calamity indeed. The people of Antioch were fo fenfible of the privilege of fitting under the lively and fervid ministrations of the gospel, that they once faid, in the warmth of their zeal, "We had better be deprived of the light of the fun, than of the preaching of Chryfoftom. It is a token of God's favour when the word and ordinances are rendered efficacious. When this and that man are born in Zion, it is a sign of his mercy to her, and that the Most High will establish her. O that the Spirit of the Lord may be poured forth on his minifters and churches in this our day! Where is the Lord God of Elijah? It is a rich and great mercy to fee a day of his power, when finners are made willing in the beauties of holinefs. It is a token of God's favour when the Spirit of fupplication is plentifully beftowed, and his people stirred up to earnestness in seeking him. When he prepares the heart to pray, it is an indication that he will cause his ear to hear. A lukewarm and flothful disposition is a fad token of God's anger and absence. "There is none that calleth upon thy name, name, that stirreth up ཅན་་༠ར་ : himself to take hold on thee for thou haft hid thy face from us, and haft confumed us because of our iniquities." It is a token of God's regard when he bestows a penitent heart, and a deep concern for reformation. This is apparent in the cafe of the Ninevites. O that God may pour upon us his Holy Spirit, in his humbling, quickening, and fan&tifying influences. This will be a token indeed of our intereft in his favour. The heavenly Comforter bearing witness with our fpirits that we are the children of God, is a bleffing of unspeakable value, and greatly to be defired. "I entreated thy favour," fays the Pfalmift, "with my whole heart," the comfortable fense and enjoyment of it, the sweet affurance of interest in it. This is life indeed. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us! fhed abroad in our hearts the love of Chrift, by the Holy Ghoft given unto us, that we may no longer anxiously doubt of our safety, but, according to the command of our divine Redeemer, rejoice that our names are written in heaven. Let the Holy Spirit of promise feal us, by way of fecurity, to the day of redemption, that we may know, with heart-felt fatisfaction, that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dif folved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ! The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. An earneft is a part of the payment, of the fame nature with that which we hope hereafter to receive. His graces and comforts are the grapes of Canaan, morfels of the upper table, preludes and foretastes of eternal enjoyments. How much are these to be defired! Suppose we were in the state of condemned malefactors; the king, our offended fovereign holds out unto us a fealed pardon, and declares, at the same time, that fuch as have not the great feal to fhew, muft fuffer for their crimes; but fuch as have it, must be acquitted, and received to his royal favour. What folicitude fhould we feel in fuch a cafe as this, that we might have a sealed evidence of the king's pardon! What diligence fhould we use, what pains fhould we take! And can we be indifferent in a matter of infinitely greater moment, when, not the life of the body only, but the eternal falvation of the foul is depending? When our offended Judge faith, Only acknowledge your offences, and feek ye my face," shall not our hearts echo to the gracious overture, '“ Thy face, Lord, will we feek?" 66 Reader, this is the defign of the small treatise which is now put into your hands; and O that it may please God to fucceed our endeavours, and accompany our preaching and our printing with his bleffing! bleffing! A match is propofed between Jefus Chrift, the heavenly bridegroom, and your poor fouls. He hath drawn up the articles, and propounded them to you by us. His facred words wanting but your speak his willingness; nothing is confent; and the match is made. We bring you letters of love and kindness from the divine Saviour, who is ready to betroth you to himself for ever. We endeavour to fhew you the large dowry he proposes to give, and the glorious manfion prepared for you, in which you fhall dwell with him for ever. We tell you of the pains he has endured, and the coft he has been at, to make you his own. Whether all this will prevail upon you, whether it will win your hearts to him or not, the event muft declare. But if this were the last sentence I must write, or you read, I do hereby fummon you to answer to this addrefs before that awful tribunal, where you and I must shortly appear. If you reject the gospel of falvation, and persevere in your rebellion against God, undoubtedly the minifters who have tenderly and faithfully warned you, will be witnesses against you. But O! how earnestly do I wish that it may be otherwife! It is our work to preach and write, your's to hear and read; but the Father of mercies alone can give fuccefs. We therefore follow these poor endeavours with our hearty prayers to him, that he may be graciously pleased to bestow upon you, converting or confirming grace; that you may expe |