Examine Be not conformed to this world. Rom. xii. 2. Love I send the things of earth away; Your streams had near conveyed me there. Lord, I adore thy matchless grace, That warned me from the deep abyss; Now to the shining realms above I stretch my hands and glance iny eyes; To bear me to the upper skies! Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as he who has called you is holy, so be ye holy (Note) in all manner of conversation. 1 Pet. i. 14, 15. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, &c. 1 Pet. iv. 3. NONE can be so sure of salvation as to be for ever free from fears and doubts; for there is no assurance without conflicts: therefore all diligence is required to be evermore sure of it, so as to have boldness, even in death. But let us take heed of presumption, since we do not know what may befall us at last; and be careful not to despise or overdrive the weaker sort of Christians, nor make our own experience a general rule for others, lest this comfortable doctrine of assurance prove a torment to them who have not yet attained it. Let all who have received a measure of grace be thankful; yet not rest in it; but press forward, fighting the good fight of faith, till they lay hold on eternal life. How short and hasty is our life! How vast our souls' affairs; God from on high invites us home, How we deserve the deepest hell What chains of vengeance should we feel Draw us, O God, with sov'reign grace, And lift our thoughts on high, That we may end this mortal race, For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke xix. 10. WHOEVER sericusly seeks to be saved both from the power and punishment of sin, and seeks deliverance only through CHRIST, should not give way to heaviness of heart; for consider, Art thou a lost sinner? CHRIST'S salvation is brought to such. Art thou seeking his salvation? This is a good token that CHRIST has sought thee, else thou wouldst not seek after him. Whom CHRIST seeks he saves. Now, therefore, call upon him. diligently to set up his kingdom in thy bosom, and say to thyself, O my soul, it was the very purpose of CHRIST'S coming into the world to save sinners circumstanced just as thou art! yea, though thy sins be as scarlet, be not thou cast down, O my soul, and be not disquieted within me, but encourage a cheerful hope in thy Covenant God, and instead of poring only upon thy sins, consider the exceeding love of CHRIST in dying for them; and, constrained by a sense of that love, do thy diligence to live unto him; and for this he will enable thee by his Holy Spirit. The Lord of life and glory stands; "An ample pardon here I give, Repent ye (O change your minds) and believe the Mistaken souls, that dream of heaven, What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. Mark xiii. 37. See also ver. 3, and chap xiv. 38. ON a day set apart for the celebration of some great event, how anxious are the people to get in time to the place appointed. What earnestness is to be seen in their looks. As earnest should we be in watching for the hour in which our Lord shall come, that we may not be ashamed before him. A heart deceived by sin may suggest many arguments against this holy earnestness; but they are the reasonings of folly. It is a general warning, "What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch." Almost every day affords an instance of some one hurried into eternity on a sudden. Was not hourly watchfulness necessary, a merciful God would not permit such sudden deaths. But he has sounded the alarm, "Ye know not what hour our Lord doth come."-Give me grace, O Lord, to live always as if I heard that solemn voice sounding continually in my ears, "Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment !" Awake, my drowsy soul, awake, Now to the work of God awake; The awful register goes on; Th' account will surely come; And opening day, or closing night, Tremendous thought, how deep it strikes! Till God's own voice the slumbers chase |