from thee and hide myself; nay I will run to thee to cover me with the wool and fleece of the Lamb of God, even the spotlefs righteoufnefs and innocence of my Saviour: Though I be hungry and starving, I'll take encouragement from the glad tidings thou haft proclaimed in the gofpel of a rich feaft for the poor and needy.-Lord, I come to thee as the hungry to be fed, as the naked to be clothed, as the wounded to be healed, as the cold starving creature to the fire, as the unclean to be washed in the fountain that is opened, not to the houfe of David only, but even to the pooreft inhabitant in Jerufalem. Glory to God, that it is fo free and open to the poor and needy.

Lord, I come not to thy table because I am worthy; but because thou art rich in mercy, and doft promise that the needy fhall not be forgotten, and the expectation of the poor fhall not perish: And that when the poor and needy feek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, thou the Lord wilt hear them, and open rivers in the wildernefs, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. O come, do as thou hast said, pity a poor, needy, perifhing creature, and fill my narrow veffel out of the ocean of thy mercy, where it will not be missed.-Come to the feaft of thine own appointment, and difplay thy fulness and liberality. Caft open the doors of thy treafures, and allow me accefs to Chrift's unfearchable riches.-Thy word, Lord, doth affure me, that in all ages thou haft bestowed these riches upon the poor and needy, without money, and without price. And this doth warrant me to plead with thee to come to thy houfe, where many needy beggars are gathered, and fcatter thy bounty among them, and admit me to gather with them.-Olet not such a miserable object go from thy door without an alms, without a crumb of the childrens bread, feeing there is bread enough in thy house, and to fpare. O let none return ashamed from the fountain who come expecting water. Thou haft promifed to pour water upon the thrifty, and floods upon the dry ground. Oh, is there any more dry, more poor, more needy, than I am! Lord, make me as thirsty as I am dry, as humble as I

am poor, and as fenfible as I am needy. Alas, that I have fo little sense of my wants! Oh, deal not with me according to my sense of need, which is small, but deal with me according to my real need, and thy royal bounty, which is cxceeding great.

O that I were poor and needy in my own eyes, and truly fenfible of my own wants; that I am drowned in debt to the law and juftice of God, owe many thoufands, and have not one farthing to pay; that 1 am deftitute of every thing that is good, can do nothing to please God, and am unworthy of the leaft of his mercies. O that I were made willing to quit all confidence in my own righteoufnefs, duties, frames or attainments; and well content to go entirely out of myself to Chrift, for righteousness to justify me, and for his fpirit and grace to renew and fanctify my nature.

Lord, I am poor, but I fee God has treafured up unfearchable riches, and infinite fulness in Jefus Christ to anfwer all my needs;-I am naked, but 1 fee in Chrift a robe of righteoufnefs, that is fufficient to cover me, and a whole elect world;-I am a ftarving creature, but in Chrift there is the bread of life, and the waters of life for my foul;-I am foolish and ignorant, but Christ hath infinite wifdom to teach and guide me;-I am loaden with guilt, but Christ's facrifice is fufficient to atone for it; I have ftrong lufts and corruptions, But Chrift hath a kindly power to fubdue them;-I am under much darkness, but Chrift is the light of the world;I am under fears and difcouragements, but Chrift is the confolation of lfrael;-I am wounded and fick, but Chrift, my phyfician, hath excellent balm for me;-I am under a burden of debt, but Chrift, my furety, is rich, and fully able to pay it; I am in prifon, and under bonds, but Chrift opens prifon doors, and loofes them that are bound; I am fatherless by Adam's fall, but Chrift is the everlasting father in whom the fatherless find mercy;-I have many enemies to puriue and accute me, as law, juftice, Satan, and confcience; but Chrift my advocate can answer them all:-Therefore I flee to him for refuge, I clofe with him in all his offices, and put my whole cons fidence in him

It gives great encouragement to my poor needy foul, that I have a Saviour fo full of goodnefs and pity to look to, a mighty agent in heaven to plead my cause, and to prefent my bills, petitions and fupplications, to the Fa-, ther: I put all my requests and concerns in his hand, and commit them to his care and management; he knows the fittest time to prefent them, and to fend me an anfwer. In the facrament I fwear allegiance to thee, as my Sovereign Lord and King, over thy broken body and fhed blood; I engage to be a true and faithful foldier in thy army, and to take the field against thy enemies. Many pieces of furniture do I need for this warfare; I need the girdle of fincerity, the fhield of faith, the helmet of hope, the sword of the spirit, the breaft-plate of righteoufnefs, and to have my feet fhod with the preparation of the gofpel of peace. But glory to thy name, my Redeemer and captain of falvation hath provided a noble armory and ftorehouse to answer all thefe my neceffities and wants. Lord, fupply all my needs out of thy infinite fulnefs, and furnish me with every thing requifite and neceffary for the work and warfare thou calleft me unto. Oh, my enemies are lively, and they are ftrong: But I look to my glorious captian, to gird me with ftrength for the battle, and to teach my hands

to war.

W

MEDITATION XIII.
From Ephef. iii. 19.

And to know the Love of CHRIST, which paffeth knowledge. HERE fhall I begin my thoughts upon this fubject of the love of Chrift to men? And when be. gun, how fhall I make an end? It hath a breadth and length, a depth and height that paffeth knowledge. If the Apoftle Paul, that had the brighteft difcoveries of this love, owned this, much more may I. I may fooner find out the height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, or the depth of the sea, than measure Chrift's love. It is an unfathomable ocean that hath neither bank nor bottom. whither did his love carry him! From the height of glory to the depth of mifery. How low and deep

was our fall, that nothing could recover and raise us up, but the low abfement of the Son of God, the King of Glory? How low was the ftep he made to help us up; even to put on our nature, and fuffer himself to be pierced for our tranfgreffions, and bruised for our iniquities! Bleffed Lord, thou tockeft not on thee the nature of angels, but the feed of Abraham; these are faft bound up from thee with with chains of darkness, whilst thou draweft us to thee with cords of love! How diftinguishing was thy love to man, that brought thee from heaven to earth, from the throne to the manger, from the manger to the wilderness, from the wilderness to the garden, from the garden to the judgment-hall, from the judgment-hall to the crofs, from the cross to the grave; yea, from the glory of heaven to the torments of hell, and all for creatures that were black and ugly as hell! How wonderful is the fight thou calleft me to fee at the Lord's table! Even to fee him fuffering for fin that never committed fin! To fee him made fin for us, who knew no fin, that we, who knew no righteoufnefs, might be made the righteousness of God in him! An amazing fight indeed!

Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him! O what is he that thou fhouldft magnify and fet thy heart on him! And what am I, the worft of men, and vilest of finners, that thou shouldst stoop fo low to exalt me. That thou fhouldft endure the poverty of this world, that I might enjoy the riches of heaven! Be content to live in the form of a fervant, that I might have the adoption of fons! Be willing to bow thyfelf unto death, to raise me to eternal life! Be content to be numbered among tranfgreffors, that I might have a room among the bleffed! To be crowned with thorns, that I might be crowned with glory! To be condemned before men, that I might be juftified before God! To drink the bitter cup of wrath, that I might drink the pure river of life! To cry out in forrow upon the crofs, that I might triumph with joy upon the throne! To stand before the mouth of hell furnace, to keep its flames from breaking out on me! O Lord Jefus, thy love hath overflown

all banks, and thy compaffion knew no bounds! Can I think on it, and my heart not burn! Can I speak of it, and not be overcome, fo as to feek, with Jofeph, a fecret place to weep in !

O love that paffth knowledge! How fhall I think of it and not ftand amazed! That the general thould die for the foldier, the phyfician for the patient! That the righteous Judge of Heaven thould come to the bar, put himself in the malefactor's clothes, and be condemned for him! That the bleffed Son of God should interpofe his innocent breast to receive the mortal ftroke for us! That God all-fufficient fhould be expofed to hunger and thirft, to grief and wearinefs, and the vileft reproaches and indignities, for worms like us! Behold the creator of the world wounded, mangled, and killed, by ungrateful creatures, whom he came to fave! behold his bowels yearning towards them who raked in them with their bloody hands! Behold his heart burning with affection towards them that cruelly pierced it! Surely a believing view of this love of Chrift is fufficient to mollify a heart more cold and frozen than ice itself! O love unfathomable ! Who can measure its dimenfions! It hath a height without a top, a depth without a bottom, a breadth without a fide, a length without end! Aftonishing love! that my exalted Lord should stoop fo low as to become a man; nay, a poor man, a man of forrows, a deserted man, a dying man, and also a dead man, for fuch a wretch as me! Nay, more, that he should stoop to be made a curfe, and underly a dreadful load of wrath upon his innocent foul, infinitely more heavy than what is laid upon any damned foul in hell!

O what a fea of wrath did my loving Jefus fwim thro' to fave me from perifhing! Behold how that raging fea wrought, and was tempeftuous, roared moft terribly, and threatened to swallow me up with the rest of the elect world; till once my Redeemer ftept in, and undertook to be the facrifice for calming the fea! Take me up, faid he, like Jonah) and throw me into the fea, and ye shall be all fafe. In this red fea our