more pleasing than the voice of melody. Thy love can make the dismal grave a more welcome habitation than the most cheerful dwelling where harmony and affection abide. Thy love is a treasure compared with which the wealth of worlds were poverty; and O, a treasure which the enmity of worlds could never take away. Thy presence darkens all terrestrial glory, and makes earthly beauty charm no more. To know thee, to love thee, and delight in thee, is a heaven below; a heaven even in the midst of conflicts and pain; but Q, what a heaven is theirs who know thee, and love thee, and rejoice in thee in heaven itself. Great God, may this happiness be mine? May I, a sinful child of sinful man, a worm, a leaf, a shade, aspire so high? May I presume to call thee, the eternal JEHOVAH, mine? Ah, Lord! I may. Years ago I might, but I slighted thee, and this unspeakable blessedness. O! well might my heart sicken, and my head grow dizzy with shame and horror, to think of having slighted thee. But now no more, O gracious Lord, I would act the prodigal's part no more. I come to thee; be thou my blessedness, or none will ever be mine. I come to thee; teach all my heart to bow before thee. Let love draw me to thy throne. Let faith repose on thy promises. Let submission make thy pleasure mine. Let me be a wanderer no more. Take the remainder of my youth, and let my life longer or shorter be all thy own.

And thou, O blessed Saviour, thou art revealed to me as the way to happiness, to heaven, and God. To thee I come for life, and help, and every good. Thy precious blood was shed for me. Thy righteousness is sufficient to clothe my guilty soul. I am nothing. I have nothing to present to thee but what is unworthy of thy notice. My prayers, my praises, my holiest actions, need to be sprinkled with thy atoning blood; but didst thou not come to save the lost! and I am lost Art not thou the way, the truth, and the life! Be thou my life; wash me in thy all-cleansing blood. Form me to thine image. Come, possess my heart, and by thy spirit dwell in me. Guilty, let me flee to thy blood. Helpless, let me lean on thy arm; and worthy of destruction only, let me plead thy death before thy judgment throne. Act as my intercessor

above, and make me thy humble friend below. I would sit at thy feet, and learn of thee; and while I trust thy death, would wear thy image, and reflect in some humble degree, thy lovely likeness. Like thee, may I be patient, humble and meek. Like thee, may I requite evil with kindness, and enmity with love. To thee may my life, my all, be consecrated, and may death appear but a kind messenger, sent to fetch me to thyself. From this hour may my youth, my health, my strength be thine. May thy love animate me; thy precepts guide and thy example direct me; thy promises cheer, and thy cautions warn me ; thy hand support me ; and, at the last let me lean my dying head on thy compassionate arm, and find death swallowed up in victory. Then may I praise thee, in those brighter courts, for that grace which discovers to me the way of life, and which inclines, me now to yield my fair but fleeting youth to thee.

But what, great God, am I, and what my resolutions and desires! Alas! I am weak as a reed, and my resolutions have been like the morning cloud or the early dew; yet let me plead with thee for thy promised Spir

it. Hast thou not promised that thou wilt give the Holy Spirit to them that ask thee? Bestow on me his sacred influences. With them water and refresh my soul. Let his holy motions incline me to every gracious act and desire. My soul is naturally like a dark and barren desert, but blessed with his influences, the darkness will disperse, and the wilderness will blossom as the rose. He must teach me to know thee, or I shall never know thee aright. He must teach me to love thee, or divine love will be for ever a stranger to my breast. He must discover to me all the excellencies of my great Redeemer, for without his teaching all other would be in vain. Great and blessed God, give me thy Holy Spirit; and let me yield my heart to his sweet and gentle guidance. Let him lead me into all important truth. Let him fashion my soul anew, and create in me a clean heart, and renew a right Spirit within me. By him may all those dispositions that shall flourish in heaven be formed within my soul during its abode on earth.

Father of all mercies, hear and grant my requests, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.

CHAPTER V.

Cautions against some delusive supports on which many rest their hopes to their eternal ruin.

SECT. 1. Self-deception a frequent cause of eternal ruin....s. 2. Caution against hoping for salvation on account of a fair character and lovely conduct, enforced from the history of the young Ruler. Mark 10, &c....s. 3. The hope of salvation not to be built on a speculative knowledge of Religion... s. 4. Or, on Religious privileges....s. 5. Or on the greatest freedom from the stains of open vice....s. 6. Or on morality of life....s. 7. Or on the possession of any other amiable qualifications....s. 8. The absolute necessity of real conversion should be kept in view....s. 9. A meditation and prayer.

SECT. 1. IT is extremely evident, from the word of God, that many fatally deceive themselves, with respect to their spiritual state. They say to themselves peace, peace, while God declares there is no peace, to persons in their condition. They indulgo expecta

tions that will never be realized; and hopes that will end in eternal despair. Like a captive, who dreams of liberty, but wakes and sees the horrid walls of his dungeon around him, so they indulge the hope of heaven, till death puts an end to the deceitful dream; they awake in eternity, and find themselves for ever undone. Such is the deceitfulness of the human heart, that you cannot, my youthful friend, too solicitously guard against its delusions, and those of the world: delusions that would give a fatal stab to your everlasting peace; that would blast all your hopes of future happiness and cover you with confusion and horror when expecting joy and glory.

I am now to warn you of some of these delusions.

Sect. 2. One of the most common is, the belief that all those are christians, who bear the christian name, whose lives are virtuous and whose deportment and temper are lovely. But alas! all this is found in thousands, who know nothing of real religion; and, with respect to eternity, all these fair appearances and pleasing recommendations will avail not, if there be not true

piety within. Perhaps this can scarcely be made more evident, than by referring you to the history of one, who, possessed these qualifications, in no common degree, but who still wanted the one thing needful.

In Matthew chap. 19. Mark chap. 10, or Luke chap. 11, an instance of this kind is recorded. "When the Lord had gone forth into the way, there came one, (a' young Ruler) running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" He was so moral a person that he could say with respect to many of the commandments of God, (at least as far as his outward conduct was concerned)" All these have I observed from my youth. And Jesus beholding him, loved him; and said, One thing thou lackest ; Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved. He was very sorrowful, for he was very rich." There cannot be a reasonable doubt that this young man was in a state of sin and death, notwithstanding all that seemed so promising and fair; and, perhaps, this little history is recorded to shew how far a person may go in morality and a concern for relig ion, and yet fall short of heaven. There are but few, in the bloom and morning of life, so amiable, and, according to worldly views, so good as this young man; and yet he wanted one thing more, and that one the most important of all things; with much that was lovely and commendable, he still was a stranger to real piety. He came running to the Lord, to inquire how he night reach a better world. Here was manifested a pleasing earnestness and humility. He was not ashamed to seek instruction, nor so taken up with the amusements and pursuits, of those of his age and rank as to forget eternity; but he went to Jesus with that most serious question. What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? His thoughtfulness about eternity was the more observable, as he was rich; and exposed to the snares, that accompany wealth. Justly has it been observed, "that his concern about his soul was not a sick-bed meditation, for he was in health; nor a melancholy qualm of old age, for he was young; nor was

it the effect of his being discontented and out of humour with the world, for he was rich and prosperous."* The manner often recommends the action, and there was much that was pleasing in his manner. Though possessed of wealth and honour, and coming to one, that appeared poor and despised, yet he used no haughty freedom, but approached his instructor with humility and respect. Besides all this, there was something more substantial in his character. Instead of running into licentiousness and riot, he had attended to the divine commandments. His life had been moral; he had been a dutiful son; was most probably affectionate and kind; and doubtless had secured the esteem of his friends, when even the Lord saw so much that was pleasing in him, that beholding him, he loved him. But when the blessed Saviour put him to the test, whether he would part with all for Christ and heaven, then his heart failed him, and he shewed that with much that was so lovely about him, he still was in reality a lover of this world; and if any man," young or aged, wicked or virtuous, if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him."" Yet even the manner of his departure proved the interest he took in the question Le had proposed; he went away grieved; and was very sorrowful. In short, he was such a one, that we may readily wish all young persons were like him; and yet he was such a one, that we must wish them to be much more than he was. In the general, you may learn from this affecting little history, that all which may gain the esteem of man, will be of no avail, as to the salvation of your immortal soul, if that true piety, which leads the soul to count all things loss for Christ, be wanting.

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Having taken a brief view of this instructive case, let me lead your thoughts to a few more particular cautions.

Set. 3. Guard against their dreadful delusion, who put a knowledge of some sacred truths, in the place of religion itself. Many such self-deceivers abound in the world. They can discourse on the hallowed themes of

* Goodman.