lieve thy wise, holy, and kind interposition in every thing which relates to me, and to the circumstances of my abode in this world. I would look through all inferior causes unto thee, whose eyes are upon all thy creatures; to thee, 'who formest light and createst darkness;' who 'makest peace and createst evil;' (Isaiah, xlv. 7.) to thee, Lord, who at thy pleasure canst exchange the one for the other, canst turn the brightest noon into midnight, and the darkest midnight into noon!

"O thou wise and merciful Governor of the world! I have often said, 'Thy will be done;' and now, thy will is painful to me. But shall I upon that account unsay what I have so often said? God forbid !' I come rather to lay myself down at thy feet, and to declare my full and free submission to all thy sacred pleasure. O Lord! thou art just and righteous in all! I acknowledge, in thy venerable and awful presence, that 'I have deserved this,' and ten thousand times more. Ezra, ix. 13. I acknowledge, that 'it is of thy mercy that I am not utterly consumed,' (Lam. iii. 22.) and that any, the least degree, of comfort yet remains. O Lord! I most readily confess, that the sins of one day of my life have merited all these chastisements; and that every day of my life has been more or less sinful. Smite, therefore, O thou Righteous Judge! and I will still adore thee, that, instead of the scourge, thou hast not given a commission to the sword, to do all the dreadful work of justice, and to pour out my blood in thy presence.

"But shall I speak unto thee only as my Judge? O Lord! thou hast taught me a tenderer name: thou condescendest to call thyself my Father, and to speak of correction as the effect of thy love. O welcome, welcome, those afflictions, which are the tokens of thy paternal affection, the marks of my adoption into thy family! Thou knowest what discipline I need. Thou seest, O Lord! that bundle of folly which there is in the heart of thy poor, froward, and thoughtless child, and knowest what rods and what strokes are needful to drive it away. I would therefore be in humble subjection to the Father of spirits,' who 'chasteneth me for my profit ;' would be in subjection to him

and live,' Heb. xii. 9, 10. I would bear thy strokes, not merely because I cannot resist them, but because I love and trust in thee. I would sweetly acquiesce and rest in thy will, as well as stoop to it; and would say, 'Good is the word of the Lord;' (2 Kings, xx. 19.) and I desire that not only my lips, but my soul may acquiesce. Yea, Lord, I would praise thee, that thou wilt show so much regard to me as to apply such remedies as these to the diseases of my mind, and art thus kindly careful to train me up for glory. I have no objection against being afflicted, against being afflicted in this particular way. The cup which my Father puts into my hand, shall I not drink it?' John, xviii. 11. By thine assistance and support I will. Only be pleased, O Lord! to stand by me, and sometimes to grant me a favourable look in the midst of my sufferings! Support my soul, I beseech thee, by thy consolations mingled with my tribulations, and I shall glory in those tribulations that are thus allayed! It has been the experience of many, who have reflected on afflicted days with pleasure, and have acknowledged that their comforts have swallowed up their sorrows. And after all that thou hast done, are thy mercies restrained?' Isaiah, lxiii. 15. 'Is thy hand waxed short?' Numb. xi. 25. Or canst thou not do the same for me?

"If my heart be less tender, less sensible, thou canst cure that disorder, and canst make this affliction the means of curing it. Thus let it be; and at length, in thine own due time, and in the way which thou shalt choose, work out deliverance for me, and show me thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them that put their trust in thee!' Psalm xvii. 7. For I well know, that, how dark soever this night of affliction may seem, if thou sayest, 'Let there be light,' there shall be light. But I would urge nothing before the time thy wisdom and goodness shall appoint. I am much more concerned that my afflictions may be sanctified, than that they may be removed. Number me, O God! among the happy persons, whom, whilst thou chastenest, thou teachest out of thy law!' Psalm xciv. 12. Show we, I beseech

thee, wherefore thou contendest with me,' (Job, x. 2.) and purify me by the fire, which is so painful to me while I am passing through it! Dost thou not chasten thy children for this very end, that they may be partakers of thy holiness?' Heb. xii. 10. Thou knowest, O God! it is this my soul is breathing after. I am partaker of thy bounty every day and moment of my life: I am partaker of thy Gospel, and I hope, in some measure too, a partaker of the grace of it operating on my heart. O may it operate more and more, that I may largely partake of thine holiness too; that I may come nearer and nearer in the temper of my mind to thee, O blessed God! the supreme model of perfection! Let my soul be, as it were, melted, though with the intensest heat of the furnace, if I may but thereby be made fit for being delivered into the mould of thy Gospel, and bearing thy bright and amiable image!

"O Lord, 'my soul longeth for thee; it crieth out for the living God!' Psalm lxxxiv. 2. In thy presence, and under the support of thy love, I can bear any thing; and am willing to bear it, if I may grow more lovely in thine eyes, and more meet for thy kingdom. The days of my affliction will have an end; the hour will at length come, when thou wilt wipe away all my tears,' Rev. xxi. 4. 'Though it tarry,' I would wait for it.' Heb. ii. 3. My foolish heart, in the midst of all its trials, is ready to grow fond of this earth, disappointing and grievous as it is; and graciously, O God, dost thou deal with me, in breaking those bonds that would tie me faster to it. O let my soul be girding itself up, and as it were, stretching its wings in expectation of that blessed hour, when it shall drop all its sorrows and incumbrances at once, and soar away, to expatiate with infinite delight in the regions of liberty, peace, and joy. Amen."

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE CHRISTIAN ASSISTED IN EXAMINING INTO HIS GROWTH

IN GRACE.

1. The examination important.-2. False marks of growth to be avoided.-3. True marks proposed; such as-increasing love to God.-4. Benevolence to men.-5. Candour of disposition.-6. Meekness under injuries.-7. Serenity amidst the uncertainties of life.-8. Humility,-9. Especially as expressed in evangelical exercises of mind towards Christ and the Holy Spirit.-10. Zeal for the divine honour.-11. Habitual and cheerful willingness to exchange worlds whenever God shall appoint.-12. Conclusion. The Christian breathing after growth in grace.

1. Ir by divine grace you have "been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible," (1 Pet. i. 2, 3.) even "by that word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever," not only in the world and the church, but in particular souls in which it is sown; you will, 66 as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." 1 Pet. ii. 2. And though, in the most advanced state of religion on earth, we are but infants in comparison of what we hope to be, when, in the heavenly world, we arrive "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," (Eph. iv. 13.) yet, as we have some exercise of a sanctified reason, we shall be solicitous that we may be growing and thriving. And you, my reader, "if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious,' (1 Pet. ii. 3.) will, I doubt not, feel this solicitude. I would therefore endeavour to assist you in making the inquiry, whether religion be on the advance in your soul. And here I shall warn you against some false marks of growth, and then shall endeavour to lay down others on which you may depend as more solid. In this view I would observe, that you are not to measure your growth in grace, only or chiefly by your advances in knowledge, or in zeal, or any other passionate impression of the mind, no, nor by the fervour of devotion alone; but by the habitual determination of the will for God, and by your prevailing disposition to obey his commands, submit to his disposal, and promote the highest welfare of his cause in the earth.

2. It must be allowed, that knowledge and affection in religion are indeed desirable. Without some degree of the former, religion cannot be rational; and it is very reasonable to believe, that without some degree of the latter it cannot be sincere, in creatures whose natures are constituted like ours. Yet there may be a great deal of speculative knowledge, and a great deal of rapturous affection, where there is no true religion at all; and still more, where religion exists, though there be no advanced state of it. The exercise of our rational faculties, upon the evidences of divine revelation, and upon the declaration of it as contained in Scripture, may furnish a very wicked man with a well-digested body of orthodox divinity in his head, when not one single doctrine of it has ever reached his heart. An eloquent description of the sufferings of Christ, of the solemnities of judgement, of the joys of the blessed, and the miseries of the damned, might move the breast even of a man who did not firmly believe them; as we often find ourselves strongly moved by well-wrought narrations or discourses, which at the same time we know to have their foundation in fiction. Natural constitution, or such accidental causes as are (some of them) too low to be here mentioned, may supply the eyes with a flood of tears, which may discharge itself plenteously upon almost any occasion that shall first arise. And a proud impatience of contradiction, directly opposite as it is to the gentle spirit of Christianity, may make a man's blood boil when he hears the notions he has entertained, and especially those which he has openly and vigorously espoused, disputed and opposed. This may possibly lead him, in terms of strong indignation, to pour out his zeal and his rage before God, in a fond conceit, that, as the God of truth, he is the pattern of those favourite doctrines, by whose fair appearances perhaps he himself is misled. And if these speculative refinements, or these affectionate sallies of the mind, be consistent with a total absence of true religion, they are much more apparently consistent with a very low state of it. I would desire to lead you, my friend, into sublimer notions and juster marks, and refer you to other practical writers,