as if you were able to dissipate and force them to disappear; but the instant you perceive them, fix your mind upon your Saviour, as a sinner who feels the continual need of his grace. While Martha is "careful and troubled about many things," nothing is more profitable or necessary than to sit, with Mary, at the feet of Jesus. He has often presented himself at the door of your heart, that he might enter in and sup with you; that is, to bless and communicate fresh graces to you. But you were absent, your heart was preoccupied by other things, and you lost the fruit of his gracious visitation. In future, if you wish to profit by them, set more value upon such moments of grace; be more upon your guard, less inattentive to the voice of the faithful friend of your soul, that when he knocks at the door of your heart, you may not suffer him to depart,

All the internal re

but open to him directly. proaches, intimations, and attractions you feel, from time to time, are so many calls, which say, as heretofore to Mary, "The master is come and calleth for thee; arise, quit all and fly to him; believe, and thou shalt see the glory of God."

Disciple. Among my great and innumerable infirmities, there is one I would particularly notice. When I think of God, or would present myself before him, it is with trembling; I am often so

full of fear, that I can say with David “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments," Ps. cxix. 120.

Pastor.-Alas! it is thus we are fallen from happy communion with our God. The fire of his love is so extinguished in our hearts, who of children are become strangers; who instead of drawing nigh to him with confidence, tremble to appear before his face. What has it not cost him to bring us back to himself, that we may recover this confidence, this child-like liberty, this familiar intercourse that we ought to have with our heavenly Father? The reason you still have so much fear and mistrust is, that you do not yet know his tender heart, his great love for his poor creatures. You look at him only in the glass of the law, which represents him as a terrible and jealous. God, a severe judge armed with thunders, ever ready to hurl at transgressors. Contemplate him rather in the mirror of the Gospel. There you will behold a God, manifest in the flesh, drawing nigh to man in the person of Jesus Christ. There you will discover in him nothing but clemency, mercy, tenderness, and paternal love. Though our fathers and mothers should give us up, he will never forget nor abandon us; he pities our miseries. This Saviour-God is moved with compassion for poor sinners; their afflictions touch him;

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he melts at their distresses. Why do you not consider the thoughts of peace hé entertains towards you, to what a degree he loves you, and all the benefits he intends you? Instead of trembling with fear, you should leap for joy, and shed tears of tenderness and gratitude. Dismiss then your apprehensions; it is not your destruction, but your eternal happiness he designs. His word assures you of it, and it well deserves your credence. Fully convinced that he loves you, believe in him; open your heart to him; cleave to and embrace him, as your sovereign good and your all. In him is grace, salvation and succour for every poor sinner.

Disciple. You speak of his succour: I have long supplicated and waited for it; but his help is slow in coming, and I much fear Jesus will not grant it me.

Pastor.-Upon that head there are four things to be observed. First, Do not judge of God's intentions by your own ideas of them, but according to what he has revealed in his word; it is in his gracious promises we learn his truly paternal heart. All we read in the Prophets, Psalms, and the New Testament, breathe nothing but grace, love, and peace; every thing written therein is for your consolation. He says, "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that

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I will not turn away from them, yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good," Jer. xxxii. 40, 41. Secondly, Never contemplate the Divinity but in the person of Jesus Christ. Out of Christ God is a consuming fire; look at him in the face of Jesus, who is the express image of his person, for all the fulness of the Godhead dwells; in Jesus Christ; "As thou Father art in me, and I in thee," John xvii. 21." He that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also," 1 John ii. 23. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," John xiv. 9. Behold Jesus upon the cross; meditate upon his martyrdom, griefs, wounds, agonies, and death. Reflect that it was for men, and for you among others, that he suffered all those things, as his word testifies. Are you convinced that he has done so, in the serious and sincere intention of redeeming you and making you happy? In short, do you not believe that, when affixed to the cross, he had in view your miseries, your unbelief, your enmity against him, your indifferency to and your ingratitude for his surpassing love? All this did not prevent his dying for you; do not hesitate then to place your entire confidence in him. Thirdly, Your own experience ought to teach you to knów the heart of your heavenly Father. Reflect with what infinite patience he has supported you in your state of impenitence and perversity. Now,

where is the man, who, having the right and power to punish his enemy, waits till he repents, that he may have the pleasure of forgiving him? Yet this is what the great lover of souls does in respect of men who are his enemies; it is what he has done towards you. You were in his hands; he could have ruined and destroyed you; he has not done so, because he would preserve you for the time of grace, for the day of salvation. O prodigy of long suffering! O riches of patience! how great, incomprehensible, infinite! What ought to render his care of you so much more admirable and astonishing is, that instead of punishing and damning you, as he possessed the power and the right to do, every time you have provoked him, he has heaped upon and surrounded you with benefits; and that, to soften the hardness of your heart, win your affections, and convince you that he was resolved to save you at any price. Fourthly, Call to mind how many times he has acted towards you, as the Father with the Prodigal Son. He has gone a thousand times after his lost sheep; he has employed a thousand means to touch your heart, to warn you of the dangers that menaced you, to allure you to himself. In spite of your many slights and resistances, he has not been weary of offering you grace, nay soliciting your ac* Isa. i 3, 4. + Ib. i. 18, 19. ↑ Ib. lv. 1.