tant 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 wilderness, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. come, do as thou haft faid; pity a poor, needy, perishing creature, and fill my narrow veffel out of the ocean of thy mercy, where it will not be miffed. Come to the feast of thine own appointment, and display thy fulness and liberality. Caft open the doors of thy treasures, and allow me accefs to Chrift's unfearchable riches. Thy word, Lord, 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 house, where many needy beggars are gathered, and fcatter thy bounty among them, and admit me to gather with them. O let not fuch a miferable object go from thŷ door without an alms, without a crumb of the children's bread, feeing there is bread enough in thy house, and to fpare. Olet none return afhamed from the fountain who come expecting water. Thou haft promised to pour water upon the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. Oh, is there any more dry, more poor, more needy, than I am! Lord, make me as thirfty as I am dry, as humble as I am poor, and as fenfible as I am needy. Alas, that I have fo little fenfe of my wants! Oh, deal not with me, according to my fenfe of need, which is fmall, but deal with me according to my real need, and thy royal bounty, which is exceeding 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 I 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 righteoufness, duties, frames, or attainments; and well content to go entirely out of myfelf to Christ, for righteoufnefs to justify me, and for his Spirit or 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 Chrift to answer all my needs: I am naked, but I 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 Chrift hath infinite wifdom to teach and guide me; I am laden with guilt, but Chrift's facrifice is fufficient to atone for it; I have ftrong lufts and corruptions, but Christ hath a kingly power to fubdue them; I am un der much darkness, but Chrift is the light of the world; I am under fears and difcouragements, but Chrift is the confolation of Ifrael; 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 prison, and under bonds, but Christ opens prifon doors, and looses them that are bound; I am fatherlefs by Adam's fall, but Christ is the Everlasting Father, in whom the fatherless find mercy; I have many enemies to purfue and accufe 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 confidence 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 Father. I put all my requests and concerns in his hand, and commit them to his care and management; he knows the fittest time to present them, and to send 3 me an answer. In the facrament I swear 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 fword of the Spirit, the breaftplate of righteoufnefs, and to have my feet fhod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. But glory to thy name, my Redeemer and captain of falvation hath provided a noble armory and storehouse to answer all these my neceffities and wants. Lerd, fupply all my needs out of thy infinite fulness, and furnish me with every thing requifite and neceffary for the work and warfare thou calleft me unto. Oh, my enemies are lievely, and they are ftrong: But I look to my glorious captain to gird me with ftrength for the battle, and to teach my hands to war. MEDITATION XIII. From EPH. iii. 19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. - WHERE fhall I begin my thoughts upon this fubject of the love of Chrift to men? And when begun 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 brightest 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 fea, than measure Chrift's love. It is an unfathomable ocean that hath neither bank nor bottom. O 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 abafement of the Son of God, the King of glory? How low was the step he made to help us up; even to put on our nature, and fuffered himself to be pierced for our tranfgreffions, and bruised for our iniquities! Bleffed Lord, thou tookeft not on thee the nature of angels, but the feed of Abraham; these are faft bound up from thee 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 crofs to the grave; yea, from the glory of heaven to the very 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, that knew no fin, that we, who knew no rightcoufnefs, 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 shouldst magnify and fet thy heart on him! And what am I, the worst of men, and vileft of finners, that thou shouldeft ftoop fo low to exalt me! That thou fhouldeft 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 20 bounds! Can I think on it, and my heart not burn? Can I fpeak of it, and not be overcome, fo as to feek, with Jofeph, a fecret place to weep in? O love that paffeth knowledge! How fhall I think of it and not stand amazed! That the general should die for the foldier, the physician for the patient! That the righteous Judge of Heaven fhould come to the bar, put himself in the malefactor's clothes, and be condemn. ed for him! That the bleffed Son of God fhould interpofe his innocent breaft to receive the mortal stroke for us! That God all-fufficient fhould be expofed to hunger and thirst, to grief and weariness, and the vilest 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 molify a heart more cold and frozen than ice itfelf! 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! Astonishing love! that my exalted ord fhould ftoop fo low as to become a man; nay, a poor man, a man of forrows, a deferted man, a dying man, and also a dead man, for fuch a wretch as me! Nay, more, that he should ftoop to be made a curfe, and lie under 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 through to fave me from perifhing! Behold how that raging fea wrought and was tempeftuous, roared most terribly, and threatened to fwallow me up with the reft 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 fhall be all fafe. In this Red sea our bleffed Jonah was content to swim for thirty-three |