the Ifraelites in general, may be juftly referred to in this cafe; "And now, for a little space, grace hath been fhewed from the Lord our God, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage; fhould we again break his commandments, would he not be angry with us?"

Do you endeavour to comfort others with the comforts wherewith you have been comforted of God? Do you fpeak well of his name? Do you tell of his falvation from day to day, among fuch as are likely to profit by the relation? Are you faying, "Come and hear, ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my foul?".

Do thefe inftances of divine favour make you long for the heavenly ftate, where you fhall be in no danger of offending God, or of being deprived of the light of his countenance? Do you love and long for the Redeemer's appearance? Is the language of your foul like that of holy men of old,

When fhall I come and appear before God in Zion! How long fhall I dwell in Mefech, and fo. journ in the tents of Kedar? When fhall I be in the presence of my Saviour, where there is fulness of joy, and at whofe right hand there are pleasures for evermore! When fhall I behold his face in righteousness, awake in his likeness, and be fatis

fied! I fhall then know that in his favour is life. If it be so delightfully transporting to taste that he is gracious here below, what will it be to dwell with him for ever above! In my flesh shall I see God, in the perfon of his Son, not through a glafs darkly, but face to face. O bleffed day! When shall it dawn; when my willing foul fhall take her flight above the fun, the moon, and the starry lamps of heaven, into the immediate prefence of my Saviour!

Come love, come life, and that bleft day
For which I languish, come away !'

But let me farther afk you, What is your behaviour towards God, in the general courfe of your life? If you are the beloved of God, and called to be faints, fome evidence of this muft appear, both in the frame of your fpirits, and in your out-ward conversation. Are you afraid of doing any thing that may grieve the Holy Spirit? Do you hate fin, and fly from it, because it is offenfive to the Moft High? When temptations to that which is evil present themselves, do you repel them like Jofeph, "How fhall I do this wickedness, and fin against God!" Do you reverence the commands of Zion's King, endeavouring to yield obedience to them, and making it the conftant care and bufi

........

nefs of your lives to cleave to God with full purpofe of heart, and to walk worthy of him who has called you to his eternal kingdom and glory? Can you fay with the apoftle Paul, "Herein do I exercife myself fo as to have always a confcience void of offence, both towards God, and towards men?”*

Do you daily wait upon God in all those ways and ordinances where he has promifed to meet his children, and to afford his gracious prefence? Do you feek to enjoy him in the use of the appointed means?

*If the Son of God became the Son of man, why should it seem a thing incredible, that the fons of men fhould become the fons of God? Beloved, now are we the fons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we fhall be; but we know, that when Chrift, who is our life, fhall appear, then shall we alfo appear with him in glory; for we fhall fee him as he is.

6

To a chriftian the advice of the philofopher comes with redoubled force; Reverence yourself.' Confider to whom you are related, by whom you have been begotten again to a lively hope of an unfading inheritance. The ftock from which you are sprung is noble, it is royal, it is divine. Difgrace it not by bafe and unworthy actions. Your inheritance is with the faints in light; have no fellowship with the works of darkness. Let your education be suitable to your birth, your conduct answerable to your expectations.'

Bp. Horne's Sermon on The Word Incarnate.

ཉྩད་མེེད་ནས

means? And are you diffatisfied when you have not nearness to God, and communion with him in those means? He who looks for his felicity in the divine favour is ready to fay, "One thing have I defired of the Lord, that will I feek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. When thou faideft, Seek ye my face, my heart faid unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I feek. Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy fervant away in anger; thou haft been my help; leave me not, neither forfake me, O God of my falvation." If this be your cafe, you will be troubled when your heavenly Father with-holds the light of his countenance, and fufpends the comfortable sense of his favour. You will lay it deeply to heart, and fay, "Caft me not away from thy prefence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy falvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit."

What is the difpofition of your minds towards thofe who are of the household of faith? Are thofe your favourites who appear to be interefted in God's favour? Do you efteem those the excellent of the earth, and is your delight in them? Do you honour them that fear the Lord? Are they amiable in your eyes, because they bear the image

of

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of Chrift, embrace his truth, obey his commands, and follow his example? "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Is the body of fin your greatest burden? Striving against it, weary of it, and groaning under it, do you cry, from time to time, with the holy apostle Paul, "O wretched man that I am! Who fhall deliver me from the body of this death?" Are you laying afide every weight, and the fin which easily befets you, that you may run with patience the race which is fet before you? Are you hungering and thirsting after righteousness, forgetting the things behind, and reaching forth to the things before, do you prefs towards the mark for the prize of your high calling of God in Chrift Jefus? This is the difpofition of those who are interested in the divine favour. "He that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure."

Finally, do you love God, though you have fome doubts respecting his love to you? Is he the object of your fupreme defire, when you have no fenfible experience of his favour? The woman of Syrophenicia followed Jefus when he seemed to flee from her; fhe renewed her requeft, and repeated her entreaties, when he appeared to be deaf to her cries, and to treat her with total neglect. She

could