morrow upon us to-day, ver. 34, and all because we cannot believe more.

O! Christian, how much better were it to hear such questions as these from thee! How shall I get a heart suitable to the mercies I enjoy? How shall I improve them for God? "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?" This would better become thee, than to afflict thyself with "what shall I eat? what shall I drink? or wherewithal shall I be clothed ?"

Symp. 4. What does the slavish fear of death speak, but remains of unbelief still in our hearts?

Are there not many faintings, tremblings and despondencies of mind under the thoughts of death? O! if faith were strong, thy spirit would not be so cast down, 2 Cor. v. 1-3; the more bondage of fear, the more unbelief.

Symp. 5. To conclude,-what mean all those distractions of thy heart in religious duties but want of faith, weakness of faith, and the actual prevalence of unbelief? You come to God in prayer, and a thousand vanities beset you your heart is carried away, it roves, it wanders to the end of the world. Conscience smites for this, and saith, "thou dost but mock God-thy soul will smart for this; thou feelest neither strength nor sweetness in such duties." You inquire for remedies, and fill the ears of your fellow-christians with your complaints; and, it may be, see not that the root of all this is in your own unbelief; but there it is, and till that be cured it will not be better with you.

Yet let not poor christians so mourn as those that have no hope, or ground of comfort, even in this case. For,

First. Though there be remains of unbelief in you, yet you have infinite cause to bless God, that they are but remains. You were once wholly in unbelief, 1 Tim. i.

13, that is, under the full power and dominion of it. Had God cut you off in that state, you must certainly have perished everlastingly. This is the disease, but that was the death of your souls.

Secondly. Though unbelief be in you, yet is it not in you by way of rest, as it is in the ungodly; but by way of daily conflict, and as a burden too heavy to be borne, Psalm xxxviii. 4. Now though the sin be sad, yet the sorrow for it is sincere; and your conflicts with it bring you under a very comfortable sign of grace, Rom. vii.

with this disease.

Thirdly. This is a disease, under which all christians do labour more or less. There is not a heart so holy in all the world, but is in some degree tainted and infected And this hath been evident not only in all christians, of whatever attainments, but in all the acts of their faith. Job's faith triumphed in chap. xiii. 15, yet had its eclipse in chap. xix. 20. Abraham was the father of the faithful, a pattern and example of faith; O how high a pitch did his faith reach to in Gen. xxii. And yet there was a time when it failed him, as at Gerar, Gen. xx. 2. The faith of Peter shone out like the sun, in a glorious confession, Matt. xvi. 16, and yet it was not only beclouded, but seemed to be gone down, and quite set, Matt. xxvi. 69-75, though it afterwards recovered itself.

Fourthly. It is not this, or that degree of unbelief that damns a man, but the power, reign and dominion of it, that damns him. Your comfort, indeed, depends much upon the strength of your faith, but your salvation depends upon the truth of it. Most christians come to heaven with a weak and doubting faith; but few with their sails filled with a direct and fresh wind of

assurance.

Fifthly. There is enough in Christ to help thine unbelief. He is an excellent physician and knows how to relieve thee, and cure thee; go to him and groan out thy complaint; tell him thy heart is pained and troubled with this disease; and thou shalt find him a faithful, skilful, and merciful Saviour.

Sixthly. It is but a little while before this, with all other diseases bred by it in thy soul, shall be perfectly healed: sanctification is a cure begun; glorification is a cure completed: the former hath destroyed the dominion, the latter will destroy the existence of it in thy soul; when you come to heaven, and never till then, will you find yourselves well, and at ease in every part.

From these observations we must conclude that, the deepest sense of sin must not prevent an humble and thankful acknowledgment of the grace of God in his people. It is the fault of most to hide their sins; and the fault of some to hide their graces. Acceptance of our persons and duties, is a pure act of grace; there is no duty performed in a perfect act of faith; all is mixed with unbelief in some degree, the honey and the comb are mixed together, Cant. v. 1. No duty as it comes from us is pure. Our duties need repentance and washing in the blood of Christ. Justly may we suspect that faith for a false faith, which boasts of its own strength, but never mourns in the sense of unbelief. Where there are no conflicts of sin, there needs sound evidence of sincerity. Christians must not wonder to find strange vicissitudes and alterations in the state of their souls ; sometimes a clear, sometimes a cloudy day; sometimes they have their songs in the night, and sometimes their bitter lamentations. If you ask-why is it thus ? the answer is, there are within you contrary principles struggling in your souls. Is it then any wonder at all to find

peace and trouble, hope and fear, light and darkness taking their turns, and sharing your time betwixt them?

LXXX. Begone, unbelief!

My Saviour is near,

And for my relief

Will surely appear :

By pray'r let me wrestle,
And he will perform;

With Christ in the vessel,

I smile at the storm.

Though dark be my way,
Since he is my guide,

"Tis mine to obey,

'Tis his to provide ;

Tho' cisterns be broken,

And creatures all fail,

The word he has spoken
Shall surely prevail.

His love in time past

Forbids me to think,

He'll leave me at last

In trouble to sink;

Each sweet Ebenezer,

I have in review,

Confirms his good pleasure

To help me quite through.

Why should I complain

Of want or distress,

Temptation or pain?

He told me no less :

The heirs of salvation,

I know from his word,

Thro' much tribulation

Must follow their Lord, (Acts xiv. 22.)

How bitter that cup

No heart can conceive,
Which he drank quite up,

That sinners might live!
His way was much rougher

And darker than mine;

Did Jesus thus suffer,

And shall I repine ?

Since all that I meet

Shall work for my good,

The bitter is sweet,

The med'cine is food :

Tho' painful at present,

"Twill cease before long;

And then, O! how pleasant

The conqueror's song! (Rom viii. 37.)

LXXXI. Men have narrow thoughts of God's mercy, because we ourselves are given to revenge; and we are ready, when we think of our sins, to say, Can God forgive them? Can God be merciful to such? But what does God himself say? "My thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways," Isaiah lv. 8.

It is good to consider this, and it is a sweet meditation for the time undoubtedly will come, that unless God's mercy and God's thoughts should be as himself, infinite; unless his ways should be infinitely above our ways, and his thoughts infinitely above ours in mercy, certainly the soul could receive no comfort.

The soul of a christian acquainted with the word of God, knows that God's mercy is, as himself, infinite. Therefore the scripture sets down the mercies of God, by all dimensions: there is the depth of wisdom, but when it comes to speak of love and mercy, as it is Eph. iii. 18, 19, O the depth, and breadth, and height of this!