great refpect upon the lowly Centurion, ver. 10, 13. I have not found fo great faith, no, not in Ifrael; go thy way, and as thou haft believed, fo be it done unto thee. He alfo put great refpect upon the humble publican, Luke xviii. 13, 14. and declared him juftified; for (faith he) be that humbleth himself shall be exalted. He put great honour upon the humble woman of Canaan, that owned herfelf vile as a dog, Mat. xv. 27, 28. O woman, great is thy faith, (faid he) be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And he faith of himself, Ifa. lvii. 15. though he be the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, yet he dwelleth with the humble fpirit. And thus he fets himfelf before us, as the great pattern of humility, and bids us learn it of him. When he appeared unto Mofes, it was not in a lofty cedar, but in a low, mean, humble bufh. And when he would appear in our nature, it was not a great exalted woman he takes up with, but a low, humble virgin, as Mary herself obferves, Luke i. 48, 52. May I be helped then to appear before him at his holy table, with a humble fpirit, and lowly frame, that he may vouchsafe to dwell and hold communion with me! Ŏ that I had the marks of a lowly heart, and could fay, that I blush, and am ashamed before God in prayer, becaufe of my finfulness and pollution that I am made to wonder at free grace in fparing fuch a vile unthankful wretch, in keeping me out of hell, in offering me Chrift and pardon through his blood, and calling me to his table. That I difclaim all righteoufnefs by the law, and expect nothing but wrath and ruin from that airth; that I look only to Chrift and have admiring thoughts of him and his law biding righteoufnefs. That I have a deep fenfe of indwelling fin, and of the corruptions of my heart, and think more meanly of myfelf than any other perfon can. That I am jealous of my wicked heart, and afraid left I betray or wound the Son of God, and contract blood-guiltinefs; and therefore I adventure to his table with much fear and trembling. Lord, beftow upon me fuch a humble heart.

O can fuch an ill-deferving creature appear before God, and expect mercy, who hath fo long abufed mercy! Lord, instead of stretching forth a fceptre of mercy to invite me to. thy table, thou mighteft, with the rod of thy juftice, juftly dafh me in pieces as a potter's veffel. Instead of entertaining me with the bread of life, and the cup of bleffing, thou mighteft give me the bread and water of affliction; yea, cast me into that pit, where I fhould cry in vain for a drop of water to cool my tongue. O fhall fuch a wretched dog as I presume to come to thy table, and eat of the children's bread, who am not worthy to gather the crumbs that fall from it! But I have heard of the mercy of the King of If rael, that he delights to fhew it to the unworthy that: humble themfelves before him. Oh, I am vile and unfit to appear before thee; but, furely they are undone that keep away from thee, I am come to thee not be cause I am fit or worthy, but because thou art rich in mercy, and haft contrived a way for faving the like of me. Lord, I am not worthy to come within fight of thee, but far lefs that thou shouldft come under my roof to lodge with me! Will God in very deed come and dwell with men! This is a wonder, though all men were as innocent and righteous as once Adam was! But will he lodge or feaft with me that am a leper? Will he come under the roof of my foul, a house fo ruinous, fmoky and defiled, where he has not a fit place to lay his head? But, O my humble, condefcending Saviour, did not difdain to lie in a manger among beafts, nor to dine with Simon a leper! O Lord Jefus, come in thyself and furnish the house, prepare an upper room in my foul, large, fwept and garnished, and there abide, and keep the paffover with me.

Lord, I am not worthy to eat of the crumbs that fall from my own table, much lefs thofe that fall from thine. I deferve not a rooin to stand among thy fervants, far lefs to fit down with thy children. I am unworthy of my daily bread from thee, and fhall I be allowed to eat of the bread of life? Shall I, who deferve not the

bread of men, be admitted to eat the bread of angels? Shall I fit down with him, at whofe feet they fall? IfJohn the Baptift (one of the greatest that was born of women, who was filled with the Holy Ghoft from the womb) thought himself not worthy to loofe Chrift's fhoes, how unworthy am I, the meaneft of creatures, a tranfgreffor from the womb, to be admitted to touch, nay, feed upon Chrift's broken body and fhed blood? If Peter, after seeing Chrift's glory, and his own vilenefs, judged himself unworthy to be in the fame ship with Chrift, and cried, Depart from me, for I am a Sinful man: How fhall I, the chief of finners, adventure to fit down at the fame table with him in a familiar way? If the woman with the bloody iffue was afraid to come and touch the hem of Chrift's garment, how much more may I, who am full of the running iffues of fin, fear to touch the fymbols of his body and blood, or put my hand into his fide? If the pureft angels muft cover their faces when before him, how fhall I, who am fo impure, appear openly in his prefence? But glory to God for the bleffed covering provided for my guilty foul, under which I may appear and be accepted. I come to thee wrapt in it, Lord, accept of me.

O how diftinguifhing are thy favours to me an unworthy creature! Thou mighteft juftly have put in my hand a cup of trembling and unmixed wrath, a cup filled with horror of confcience and fearful defpair: But, instead thereof, thou giveft me the cup of bleffing, filled with the hope of pardon and eternal life. I might have been in hell, drinking the damned's cup of wrath, into which justice is ftill pouring in as faft as they drink out: But, glory to free grace, thou calleft me to drink the cup of falvation, which my Saviour hath purchased with his blood, and fweetened with his bleffing. Thanks be to God for it for ever.

MEDITATION XIX.

From 2 COR. ix. 15. Thanks be unto God for his unfpeakable gift.

MANY give thanks to God for meat and drink to their bodies, which indeed is the duty of all: but, alas! few give thanks to God for Jefus Chrift, the only food of precious fouls, and God's unfpeakable gift to men! Many are fond of temporal gifts and earthly riches, which are nothing but vanity; but, ah! they are easy about this Pearl of great price, this matchlefs gift, whose value no tongue can exprefs, nor open up what is contained in it. The apoftle tells us a great truth, Eph. i. 3. that God bleffes us with all fpiritual blessings in Chrift. In this gift of God we have innumerable gifts beftowed on thofe who believe on him, fuch as the gifts of fpiritual illumination, pardon of fin, a law biding righteoufnefs, reconciliation with God, adoption into his family, restoring of his image, fanctifying influences, fpiritual ftrength for work and warfare, loofing of bonds, witneffing of the Spirit, unftinging of death, conduct through the dark valley, and a title to the mansions of glory, and the eternal enjoyment of God. Chrift is the most neceffary and most enriching gift ever was gi ven to the world. God gave him to be a plank of mercy, to fave our fouls when fhipwrecked. He gave him to be our physician and balm, to heal us when our wounds feemed incurable. He gave him to be the Lord our righteoufnefs, when we had no righteoufnefs. He gave him to be our Advocate to plead for us, when we had many accufers, and none to take our part. He gave him to us to be, wisdom, righteousness, fanctification, and redemption. In this gift there is infinite fulness and unfearchable riches. Well may the spouse call Christ a bundle of myrrh and a cluster of camphire, Cant. i. 13, 14 because so many gifts and bleffings are bundled up in this one gift. Oh, what can I conceive, or what can I exprefs of this gift? He that would defcribe or fpeak of this gift, would need to have his tongue dipt in hea

ven.

Should an angel come down from it to tell us of this gift, he would ourspeak all the men on earth; yet. when he had faid all he could, the gift would be far above his expreffion: Why? because he is unspeakable.

Thanks be unto God that gave us not a fervant, not an angel, not a friend, but his Son. Not an adopted. Son, but his own Son by eternal generation; a Son, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his perfon. Yea, he gave us his only Son, to die as a facrifice in our room! How bitterly did Jacob bewail the parting with one fon, when he had eleven behind! But God gave his only begotten Son, and the Son of his love for us! It is recorded as an admirable inftance of Abraham's obedience, that he was willing to part with his only Son at God's command, Gen. xxii. 12. Now I know that thou feareft God, feeing thou haft not withheld thy fon, thine only fon, from me. But what was Abraham's fon to God's eternal Son, the fecond perfon of the glorious Trinity! a Son that was his equal! a Son in whom his foul delighted! a Son that never difpleafed him at any time! How bitterly did David mourn at parting with a rebellious fon! O Abfalom, my fon, my fon, would to God I had died for thee, &c. But what are all the fons of men, or ten thousand worlds full of men, or as many heavens full of angels, to the beloved Son of God, whom all the angels worthip and adore? And yet this is the gift that God gives us giving this gift, divine bounty hath ftretched itfelf to the uttermoft: He could have created a million of heavens more bright, and millions of angels more glorious for us; but a more glorious Son he had not, nor could have; a greater gift he had not in all his treasures, than his own co-eternal and con-fubftantial Son, yet he makes a free gift of him to us! O who would not give thanks unto God for this his unfpeakable gift? And, who would not part with all the world to have an intereft in this gift fealed to him at the Lord's table? This is the gift that fweetens all other gifts, and without which nothing in the world hath any sweetness in it. H

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