Pray without ceasing. 1 Thes. v. 17. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Luke xviii. 1. Continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12. If we have not got grace enough, it is because we do not pray enough; for most true it is, we need not strive to move GOD to compassion, and ex. tort, as it were, the blessings from him by our prayers, which he has promised. Very far from it. He is every minute communicating himself to us; in every word he holds forth CHRIST and every good thing to us; but we must always have a soul hungering after CHRIST, and by incessant prayer stretch out the hand of Faith to receive him. This is chiefly to be understood of the inward desires and groanings of our spirit; but we must not omit to pour out our supplications daily, as often as we can, by words, else our secret mental prayers at last may become so secret, as to cease perhaps entirely. We must always remember that we are dependent on GOD for every good; without him we can do nothing. Let us feel that dependence at all times, and we shall always be in the spirit of prayer. Nor let us cease praying till we have received a full answer to our prayers. "Ye people, pour out your hearts. before him, GOD is a refuge for us. Psal. lxii. 8. Holy Father, lend an ear Whilst I sue in Jesu's name; Since I bring no human claim; Let me for adoption stay, Grant me comfort or deny; Only let thy Spirit cry ABBA, Father, in my heart! Abide in me. John xv. 4. Lord, to whom shall we go?-thou hast the words of eternal life. John vi. 68. It is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God. Psalm lxxiii. 28. To abide in CHRIST, who is our righteousness and strength, and not to be moved from him, is the very life and power of Christianity; we do this when our thoughts are going out after him, our hearts cleaving to him, and our minds stayed upon him. Now, to know CHRIST, and thus to abide in him, as our righteousness, brings peace and joy; which joy in the LORD is certainly followed with strength to overcome sin and the world, which believers renounce the more readily, as they have found something better in CHRIST. May the Lord give me grace likewise immoveably to abide in him! May he strengthen me with might in the inner man, even with the might of the Holy Spirit, that I may not only abide in CHRIST while here, but may abide with him for evermore in the New Jerusalem which is above. Christ is my light, my life, my care, My blessed hope, my heav'nly prize; My limbs, my bowels or my eyes! The strings that twine about my heart, With their dear hold of Christ my love. My God, and can a humble child, Be ever from thy face exil'd, Without the pity of thine eye! Impossible! for thine own hands, Have tied my heart so fast to thee, That where thou art thy friends must be. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Gal. iii. 13, 14. THE spirit of sanctification is the gift of CHRIST. The law commands and makes us know But 'tis the gospel must reveal Where lies the strength to do his will. The law discovers guilt and sin, And shews how vile our hearts have been, Forgiving love and cleansing grace. C Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Rom. x. 4. See Rom. viii. 1-17. WHERE the law ends Christ begins. The law Lord, when my thoughts with wonder roll When I behold death, hell, and sin, My passions rise and soar above; But my heart fails, my tongue complains, But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, In vain the trembling conscience seeks With long despair the spirit breaks, Just as we see the lonesome dove Bemoan her widowed state, Wand'ring she flies thro' all the grove, Just so our thoughts from thing to thing Just as we droop and hang the wing, While Jesus shines with quickening grace, But if a frown becloud his face, |