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the cross the bleeding Saviour, I beheld the motto written on his breast, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world,' My fears subsided, peace was bestowed, and I was enabled to arise, and go on my way rejoic1.80 ing." A fourth can say, "I was beset with enemies, I was an object of reproach, a scorn and derision to them who were round about me.' Malevolence laid a snare; the tongue of slander misrepresented my motives and actions, and hatred opposed my interest in every direction. But how has the Lord verified his word! I heard his voice saying, Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him; fret not thyself because of him who bringeth wicked devices to pass.' Ps. xxxvii. 5, 6, 7. He has now made mine enemies to be at peace with me; they have been brought to see the folly of their own conduct; and those who were once violent and injurious are now become quiet and submissive."

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A fifth can say, "I was bereaved, and left disconsolate: I thought I could never be happy any more. The world became as a wilderness unto me. I am,' said I, made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed unto me.' When I lie down, I said, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? I am full of tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day.' Job vii. 3, 4. But how merciful is Jehovah! he healed my wounded spirit, he dried up my tears. I forgot my misery, and remembered it as wa

ters that pass away."" Another can say, "With
what horror have I looked upon the last enemy,
death! How often has the thought of it made me
tremble! What anxious cares have I had for my
friends, my children, and those about me! How
painful was the thought of leaving them; how
hard to take the last farewell! But now, thanks
be to God, he has heard my prayer, he has taken
away the fear.
the fear. All the days of my appointed
time will I wait till my change come. I have
listened to the command, Leave thy fatherless
children; I will preserve them alive: and let thy
widows trust in me. For me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. I rejoice in the thought of
being for ever with him. I shall behold his face
in righteousness: when I awake, I shall be satis-
fied with his likeness."" Ps. xvii. 15. Jer. xlix.
11. Phil. i. 21. Job xix. 26. xiv. 14.

Thus have christians to relate to others various but merciful deliverances from trouble. And how animating is it to hear what God has done for those who trust in him; of faith honoured, prayers answered, deliverances wrought, and mercies received!

The relation of our experience may, however, be objected to by some. Religion, say they, is silent. It occupies the heart. Besides, does it not savour of ostentation and vanity to be talking of ourselves? These are futile objections. Religion, it is granted, is not clamorous: but then it is benevolent. It is of a quiet and peaceable nature; but then it is not dumb. She must lift up her voice, but then it is the voice of mercy and of kindness. She is life as well as peace. "Not the life of a fury, that hath no peace in it; nor

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the peace of a stone, that hath no life in it." Religion, it must be acknowledged, takes its rise in the heart, but then it is not to be confined there. It is of too operative a nature to be inclosed within the boundaries of the understanding. The affections will be moved; and when that is the case, the eye will weep, the tongue must speak, and every power will be exerted and roused to activity.

Besides, it cannot savor of ostentation, when the tendency is to exalt the Creator, and abase the creature. Christians have nothing to say to set themselves off, but to magnify the grace of · God. The relation they give, the testimony they bear, is founded on gratitude, influenced by love, attended with humility, and has for its end the glory of God, and the welfare of immortal souls.

But the propriety of declaring our experience we may consider farther, by observing that it is both implied and commanded in the sacred scriptures: Let us consider one another," says the apostle," to provoke unto love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Heb. x. 24, 25. "Go home to thy friends," said our Lord to him that had been possessed with the devil," and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee." Mark v. 19. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Col. iii. 16. It is evident, from

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these passages, that christians are to assemble together, and no one can suppose that the relation of what God has done for them is to be excluded from their exercises on such occasions. It forms a considerable part of christian edification, and in some measure resembles the heavenly world, where we shall not only for ever contemplate the work of God in ourselves, but in all those who shall surround the throne.

Reserved, solitary christians should remember this. If it be a command to assemble ourselves together, is it not wrong wilfully to abstain from the society of the righteous? If it be a duty to communicate, is it not highly improper to be silent? Yet there are some, who, from a singularity of temper, or a timidity almost bordering on sinfulness, that seem to be travelling to heaven alone. They join no society, they keep their experience to themselves, and proceed without mingling their joys and their griefs with those who are going the same way. But such little know how disadvantageous this is to themselves. They have to bear their own burdens; their sorrows, confined within their own breasts, are ready to tear them asunder. Not having communication with others, they are ready to suppose that none are are so tried as themselves; and if they do stumble, they have none to interpose and Let such recollect what the wise man has left on record, that "two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to lift him up." Eccl. iv. 9, 10.

save.

Farther; we may observe that, in the relation of our experience, we follow the example both of Old and New Testament saints. "We took sweet counsel," says David," and walked unto the house of God in company.” Ps. lv. 14.

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"They that feared the Lord," says the prophet Malachi, "spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. Mal. iii. 16. "When Jesus was presented in the temple, Anna, the prophetess, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Luke ii. 38. The woman of Samaria, feeling the power of divine grace in her own heart, could not help exclaiming, "Come, and see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ ?" John iv. 29. The apostle Paul observes of the Corinthian church, "When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying. If all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." 1 Cor. xiv. 26, 24,

25.

"When

together in my name,

Such also are within the promise. two or three are gathered there," says the Saviour, them." Matt. xviii. 20.

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