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by thine own power, do I look up for the life of faith and hope, and for the increase of faith and hope, and every blessing! O work in me to will and to do what is right; for, without thee, I can neither will nor do

I am

any thing but evil. I am all depravity; but thou art grace itself, and the God of all grace. weakness, instability, and want; but thou art everlasting Strength, the Rock of ages, the Fulness which filleth all in all. I have nothing, but thou hast all things. O behold thy poor servant, whom thou hast made willing to serve thee; and let all the good pleasure of thy will be done in me and by me. Abate my pride, subdue my unbelief, mortify my corruptions, establish my soul. All that I need, supply, according to thy riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So shall I be steadfast in thy steadfastness, lively in thy life, active in thy power, faithful in thy grace, wise in thy wisdom, holy in thine holiness, happy in thy love, persevering to the end by thine incessant care, comfort, and preservation. Lord, who or what am I, that thou hast so tenderly brought me hitherto; when, like millions around me, I might have been justly cut off, and left silent in darkness! Help, O help me to adore thee, and to testify of thy goodness and grace, in heart and in mind, in lip and in life, both now and for ever!

CHAPTER XIX.

On the equal Obligation of Believers to the Three Persons in Jehovah.

It is an error to suppose that we are indebted to one more than another of the Divine Persons; for their love is but one and the same love, as their essence or nature is one and the same; and there could not exist such a difference or inequality of kindness to men, unless there was such a difference or inequality in themselves, as would not stand with the unity of their Godhead.

The love of the Three Persons formed the covenant of grace from everlasting, in which they were equally and undividedly concerned; and though the fulfilment of this covenant had necessarily an order and distinction, according to the several engagements of the Three distinct Persons, yet the mind and will of the Godhead were but one, and the object of their power but one, even Jehovah's glory in the salvation of sinners.

The Father loved, and concurred in the redemption of his chosen by Christ; the Son loved, and bare their sins in their nature, glorifying in that nature all the attributes of the Godhead; the Spirit loved, and engaged to make effectual the whole plan, by fitting the heart to receive, and by carrying to the heart, the benefits of eternal salvation. Thus God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself; Christ

fulfilled all that was given him to do; the Spirit enlivens, enlightens, and seals to the day of redemption. This is the order of the covenant; beginning with the Father, and, through the Son and Spirit, descending from heaven to the salvation of his people ; but, in the order of their enjoyment of this covenant, the Spirit begins with them, and they ascend by him, next to the Son, and then to the Father. This is a blessed mystery of faith, which (however plain in the Scriptures) can only be understood truly in the course of a gracious experience. No mere notions, and especially of the carnal mind, can possibly reach it. The tuition, or rather intuition, is altogether divine.

What a blessed thing is it to believe and to know assuredly, that the wisdom, will, affection, and power, of all the Persons in Jehovah, are concerned in the salvation of every poor sinner that repenteth? What a confidence of spirit ought not this to inspire in the children of God! If their Lord be thus engaged and concerned for their welfare, how can any of them be lost, or fail of what he hath prepared for them? O my soul, rejoice in the love of the Father, Son, and Spirit, that one God, who hath done such great things for thee, and who will yet do more, yea, more than eye hath seen, ear heard, or entered into the heart of man to conceive. To this ONE God be glory. Amen. Hallelujah.

CHAPTER XX.

On the particular Design and Use of the several Holy Scriptures.

BLESSED Lord, "thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path!" Without this glorious revelation, I must have remained, as I was born, a poor, helpless, hopeless, and miserable sinner.

By this is thy servant taught the order and excellency of thy first creation, when man was made in righteousness and true holiness, and lived therefore in tranquillity and peace. Hence I learn how he fell from thee, and in falling, became spiritually dead, and cut off from thy life in his soul; while his body received the seeds of dissolution, and began to die from that very hour. I also am instructed to see thy mercy proclaiming a Redeemer in the midst of thy justice, which otherwise must have destroyed, or made wretched without remedy, my whole race. Thou ordainedst a covenant by sacrifice with the first believers, showing thereby in type and shadow the great atonement of Jesus Christ, who, by thine own everlasting covenant, was "the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world." By faith in this propitiation, they offered up their spiritual sacrifices, when they presented before thee the appointed creatures; and "according to this faith they died, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them, and embraced

them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

By this holy word I also learn, how, for the dreadful impieties of the old world, thou broughtest on a flood upon the earth, destroying all mankind but the small remnant of one family. My eyes have seen abundant testimonies of this truth, within the bowels as well as upon the face of the globe; in beholding what once lived upon the surface, at great depths beneath; and what once inhabited the seas, upon the tops of the highest mountains.

By thy blessed record I understand, that thou madest a covenant with Noah, and Abraham, and the other patriarchs, promising the great Saviour to them and their seed. Thou didst suffer their offspring to go down into Egypt, and broughtest them up again with thy mighty hand, that by this thou mightest proclaim a more glorious deliverance to thy people. The plagues of Egypt were strong emblems of the curses and evils which sin brings upon the souls of all men by nature; and thy visitations of Israel were likewise representations of thy conduct in grace towards all thy redeemed. To this day, thou deliverest thy people from the world and the devil by the blood of the paschal Lamb, and sendest them forth from the house of bondage, to become sojourners as in a wilderness," and to seek a better country and a heavenly."

Thou didst appoint all the rites and ceremonies of the holy law, to show forth the Saviour's love, life, and death, till he should come. They are lively prophecies, and wise memorials, of what he

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