Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. viii. 35, 37–39.

STA

TARS shine brightest in the darkest night; torches are better for beating; grapes come not to the proof till they come to the press; spices smell best when bruised; young trees root the faster for shaking; gold looks brighter for scouring; juniper smells sweetest in the fire; the palm-tree proves the better for pressing; chamomile, the more you tread it the more you spread it. Such is the condition of all GOD'S children they are then most triumphant when most tempted; most glorious when most afflicted; most in favour of GOD, when least in man's and least in their own; as their conflicts, so their conquests; as their tribulations, so their triumphs; true salamanders, that live best in the furnace of persecution; so that heavy afflictions are the best benefactors to heavenly affections; and where afflictions hang heaviest, corruptions hang loosest; and grace that is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose-leaves, is then most fragrant when the fire of affliction is put under to distil it out.

My life, and all its comforts too,
From GOD's abundant bounty flow;
And when he calleth back his own,
Contented I would lay it down.

Then if men scorn and Satan roar,
Yet strengthened by the GOD of power
His faithful witness I shall be ;

Though weak, I can do all through Thee.

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land, &c. my fair one, and come away. art in the clefts of the rock, &c. ii. 10-14.

O

Arise, my love, my dove, thou SONG OF SOL.

LORD, how often has it been winter with me, but thou hast always quickened me again Grant that by these experiences I may be so used to thy ways, as always to expect the best from thee in everything, and to have only this one care, namely, how I may please thee as thy bride and dove, and be accepted through thee with thy Father! Let my faith be so strengthened by all thy various dealings with me, that at last I may have boldness, and find complete rest in thy wounds, my crucified Saviour, where there is room for the greatest of sinners, even for me who am the chief.

The voice of my Beloved sounds
Over the rocks and rising grounds;
O'er hills of guilt, and seas of grief,
He leaps, he flies to my relief.

Gently he draws my heart along,
Both with his beauty and his tongue;
Rise, says my LORD, make haste, away;
No mortal joys are worth thy stay.

The Jewish wintry state is gone,
The mists are fled, the spring comes on,
The sacred turtle-dove we hear
Proclaim the new, the joyful year.

And when we hear our JESUS say,
"Rise up, my love, make haste, away!'
Our hearts would fain outfly the wind,
And leave all earthly loves behind.

Be not conformed to this world. ROM. xii. 2. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, &c. He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 JOHN ii. 15, 17.

READER, whose will dost thou do? Examine thyself. Perhaps thou thinkest, to love the world and to do its will cannot be a great sin, because many reputed honest men and good Christians do the same. Nay, but for thy soul's sake consider what the Scripture says, If thou "lovest the world, the love of the Father is not in thee;" and without this love of the Father thou hast no faith; and being destitute of faith thou hast no CHRIST, and consequently no life and salvation. Consider further, whether thou dost not love the world above either GOD or thy own soul. Hast thou not a hundred thoughts about the world for one of GoD or thy soul? Dost thou not talk a hundred times more about the world, and is not thy pursuit continually after it, to the neglect of GOD, and thy soul? Then, the world is thine idol; thou lovest not GOD, and art murdering thy soul. The LORD have mercy on thee! I send the things of earth away; Away, ye tempters of the mind, False as the smooth, deceitful sea, And empty as the whistling wind. Your streams were floating me along, Down to the gulf of black despair; And whilst I listened to your song,

Your streams had near conveyed me there.

LORD, I adore thy matchless grace,

That warned me from the deep abyss;
That drew me from those treach'rous seas,
And bade me seek superior bliss.

Now to the shining realms above

I stretch my hands and glance my eyes;

O for the pinions of a dove,

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

ONE 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!
Yet senseless mortals vainly strive
To lavish out their years!

GOD from on high invites us home,
But we march heedless on;
And ever hast'ning to the tomb,
Stoop downward as we run.
How we deserve the deepest hell
That slight the joys above!

What chains of vengeance should we feel
That break such cords of love!

Draw us, O GOD, with sov'reign grace,

And lift our thoughts on high,

That we may end this mortal race,
And see salvation nigh!

For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. LUKE xix. 10.

HOEVER seriously 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;
Aloud he cries, and spreads his hands;
He calls ten thousand sinners round,
And sends a voice from every wound.
"An ample pardon here I give,
And bid the sentenced rebel live;
Show him my Father's smiling face,
And lodge him in his dear embrace.
I purge from sin's detested stain,
And make the crimson white again;
Lead to celestial joys refined,
And lasting as the deathless mind."
O JESUS! let me doubt no more;
But hear, and wonder, and adore.
Till death shall make my last remove
To dwell for ever in thy love!