Christian's Prayer.-God be merciful to me a sinner. LUKE Xviii. 13. Look upon my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. PSALM XXV. 18. Divine Answer.-The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, and of great mercy; the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. PSALM cxlv. 8, 9. My son be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. MATT. ix. 2. JUSTIFICATION, or remission of sins before the tribunal of GOD, and the comfortable assurance of it in the heart, do not always go together. The pardon is passed in heaven at once, and in the most perfect manner; yet the sense of it may be wanting; for the assurance of that pardon is mostly given by degrees, as believers are able to receive it. Feeble glimpses appear now and then; and many love-tokens usually pass between CHRIST and a believing soul, before the Spirit gives a full and clear witness to his conscience. Therefore a penitent soul must converse much with the Gospel, and pray continually for more light, and a greater degree of faith and peace. It must narrowly scrutinize its own feelings and desires, and bring these at all times to the test of the Bible, and in this work the glimmerings of the dawn of assured hope will begin to dispel its darkness. O GOD of mercy, hear my call; Give me the presence of thy grace; A soul oppress'd with sin's desert, Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. PSALM Xxxvii. 4. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. PSALM lv. 22. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. PROV. xvi. 3. IF thou desirest to delight thyself only in the ness; LORD, and art more solicitous for the increase of faith, love, and holiness than temporal happiand wouldst even part with some earthly good, provided it would enlarge thy spiritual welfare-this comes not from nature, but is an infallible mark of grace and regeneration; and the LORD shall give thee also the desires of thine heart, and even more than thou desirest. Nothing can be more foolish than to harbour one or more secret lusts in our hearts, after we have been once awakened. We must certainly suffer for it: our conscience will check us; we cannot enjoy it with half the pleasure as before; our course is hindered, and our peace disturbed. How much more prudent and profitable then would it be to forsake all and follow CHRIST straight, who only can satisfy the desires of our heart! Consider this, O my soul; act the wiser part; let thine eye be single, and cleave to him alone; while others, seeking to serve two masters, God and Mammon, are woefully disappointed at last; avoid thou this folly; and be wholly for CHRIST. Thus thou wilt be able to taste the kisses of his mouth, and the crystal streams of his comfortable and heavenly love. Dear Saviour, let thy beauties be And grace command my heart away Jeremiah's Prayer.-Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. JER. xvii. 14. Divine Answer.-I am the Lord that healeth thee. EXOD. XV. 26. They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. MATT. ix. 12. I have seen his ways, and will heal him. Isa. lvii. 18; liii. 5; and lxi. 1. CHRIS HRIST'S healing all bodily sickness, was a token of his power and grace to heal all spiritual diseases of our souls, though ever so dangerous. Therefore, give thyself only up to his care, he understands thy distemper also, and will certainly restore thee. He has healed a great many already, nay, all those who ever desired it, of all their infirmities. Thou canst never be too miserable and bad for him; he is ever willing and able to help. The worse thy case is, the more he will pity thee and have patience. Before we can be made whole, his way is to make us thoroughly sensible of our sickness, and lay our wounds more and more open. But as the physician then is most wanted, we must be the more earnest to implore his help, and he will surely bind us up again and heal us; not at once, but by degrees; often slowly and wonderfully, yet thoroughly at last; for he heals all, even the most incurable diseases. Psalm ciii. 3. Bind up, O LORD, and cheer my soul With thy forgiving love; O make my broken spirit whole, Let not thy spirit quite depart, Then let my heart with grateful love And let thy name all names above Confess your faults one to another. JAMES V. 16. Tis related of St. John the Evangelist, that he was once set upon by a company of thieves, amongst whom was a young man, their captain. To him St. John applied himself, by way of wholesome counsel and advice, which took so good effect, that he was converted, and went to all his fellow thieves, and besought them, in the name of JESUS CHRIST, to walk no longer in their wicked ways. He told them, that he was troubled in conscience for his former wicked life, and earnestly entreated them, as they tendered the welfare of their own souls, to leave off their old courses. The counsel was good, and well taken, so that many of them became converts. Thus one sinner's confession of his faults to another may happily prove the conversion of one by the other. Hence that precept, "Confess your faults one to another," is thus interpreted by some:That those who have been partners together in sin, should go and seriously confess their sins each to the other. He that hath been a drunkard, or any otherwise a wicked liver, let him go to his companions in iniquity, and tell them that he is troubled in mind because of his former excess, and he may be a mean of converting them. Reader, Art thou converted? follow this method; go to thy old companions, warn them of their danger, and thou wilt either be a mean of converting them, or hereby get rid of their troublesome company. Again, he who has injured another, should confess his fault to that other, as well as to GOD, and beg forgiveness from both. If I have wronged my neighbour aught, Or led a soul astray, LORD, give me grace to own my fault, David's Prayer.-Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant. PSALM cxliii. 2. Divine Answer.-Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my voice, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. JOHN v. 24. See also Chāp. viii. 51; Isa. xxv. 8. INCE the Judge himself is our Brother, our 66 Bridegroom, the LORD of death and life, yea, even our life, believers cannot die eternally, because "they are passed from death unto life." He that owns the justice of GOD's judgment confesses himself guilty in all things, and appeals from the judgment-seat to the mercy-seat, him the LORD will own and justify through the righteousness of his Son; for, "if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. Nay, we shall even sit in judgment together with CHRIST." 1 Cor. vi. 2. And surely, in that day we shall not pass a sentence of condemnation on ourselves, much less will CHRIST; for he loves us more than we do ourselves. O let us then humble ourselves before GOD, and come as condemned criminals to his seat of mercy, for pardon and for grace to help in the time of need. Who shall the LORD's elect condemn ? And mercy, like a mighty stream, O'er all their sins divinely rolls. Who shall adjudge the saints to hell? "Tis CHRIST that suffer'd in their stead: And their salvation to fulfil, Behold him rising from the dead. Then never shall my soul despair, Who knows GOD's only Son has died |