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lows, that if we have not more grace, it is because we pray fo little. Prayer increases religion by its very exercise; it naturally promotes refignation, cherishes hope, and strengthens faith; our intercourse with God will naturally diminish worldly impreffions on the mind, and refine and elevate our powers; it will increase our refemblance of God, and we shall come forth from his prefence like Mofes, fhining in his rays. Prayer alfo is rich in promife; "I never faid to the feed of Jacob, seek "ye me in vain.” "The Lord is nigh unto all them "that call upon him, to all them that call upon him in "truth: he will fulfil the defire of them that fear him; "he will also hear their cry, and will fave them." On these two principles prayer ranks highest among those institutions which we call means of grace; and will be inceffantly regarded by all those who are concerned to enjoy foul-prosperity.

REVIEW

Fifthly, It would be profitable for you to "call to "remembrance the former days," and efpecially to THE BEGINNING OF YOUR RELIGIOUS COURSE. It is faid of Jehofaphat, that " he walked "in the FIRST ways of his father David ;" it is an intimation that he was not fo zealous, and fo accurate in his converfation afterwards. Our Saviour tells the church of Ephefus, "I have fomewhat against thee, "because thou haft left thy FIRST love; remember "from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy "FIRST works." Ah! christians, do not your minds appropriate this reproach? O how you abounded in the duties of obedience then! O how you prized ordinances! O how you longed for the fabbath; and how glad were you "when they faid, let us go into

"the house of the Lord!" How much of your time was employed in meditation, and prayer, and praise ! And all was deemed a privilege! There was nothing like burden or bondage. How did the bitterness of repentance make you loathe fin; and at what an awful distance did you keep yourselves from its approach! How glorious did the Saviour appear in your deliverance; and with what vigour did you fay, "Lord, I will "follow thee whitherfoever thou goeft!" Muft I "cry "in the ears of Jerufalem, faying, thus faith the Lord, "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, and the "love of thine efpoufals, when thou wenteft after me "in the wilderness, in a land that was not fown." Alas! is it neceffary to lead you back in the history of your religion, and to derive from yourfelves in former years examples to excite you now? To make blush at a change not for the better, but the worse; to cover you with confufion, by comparing the flackness of your progrefs, with the ardours of your commencement ?

you

Finally, It will not be lefs profitable for you to

LOOK FORWARD, AND SURVEY THE CLOSE OF ALL.

Christians," it is high time to awake out of fleep, for "now is your falvation nearer than when ye believed; "the night is far spent, the day is at hand." Would you flumber on the verge of heaven? The stream increases as it approximates the fea; motion accelerates as it approaches the centre. You have beheld dying faints, and have often heard them mourn that they had been fo negligent, and that they had done fo little for God in their day and generation; and are you refolved to fill a dying hour with fimilar regrets? Did

you

know that the time of" your "departure was "at hand," you inftantly would arife, and have "your "loins girded, and your lamps burning." But the season will come foon, and may come immediately. Therefore "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it "with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, "nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither "thou goeft." Yes, this is the only opportunity you will have to do good to others, and to get good for yourselves. Joshua had the day protracted, to enable him to complete his victory; but no addition will be made to yours; no fun will stand still while you finish your courfe; fee! the fhadows of the evening are clofing in; and "the night cometh, wherein no man "can work." Will you always be in a condition which will render reprieve anxiously defirable? Will you be always praying when you apprehend the fummons, "O spare me, that I may recover ftrength be"fore I go hence and be no more?" Does it require no more mortification than you now poffefs, fubmiffively and cheerfully to bid farewell to the world? Does it require no more affurance of hope than you now feel, to pass fearlessly the dark "valley of the shadow "of death?" And what a trial awaits you beyond the grave! For there is a tribunal, before which superficial tears will not be confidered as repentance; a happy temper will not pass for conversion; a few sluggish endeavours will not be accepted in the room of vital godlinefs; nothing will be crowned but a faith that "overcomes the world ;" a "hope that purifies even "as He is pure;" a love that "conftrains us to live "not to ourselves, but to Him that died for us,

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"and rofe again;" a patience" that endureth to "the end;"a perfeverance that keeps us from "being "weary in well-doing." "The Lord grant that "we may find mercy of the Lord in that day”— Amen and Amen.

SERMON XI.

THE PRIVILEGES OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

PSALM lxxxiv. 11.

For the Lord God is a fun and field; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly.

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DAVID was remarkably distinguished

by the fervency of facred affections. He could fay with propriety," the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up." Hence his anxiety and refolution to establish a refidence for the ark; "Surely I will not come into "the tabernacle of my houfe, nor go up into my bed; I "will not give fleep to mine eyes, or flumber to mine "eye-lids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an "habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." Hence his peculiar distress, when deprived of public privileges; "when I remember these things, I pour out my "foul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I "went with them to the house of God, with the voice "of joy and praife, with a multitude that kept holy"day." When by the unnatural rebellion of Absalom he is driven from his throne, he feels the lofs of his palace much less than the lofs of the fanctuary; and E E

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