I will be very ready to confess with you, that nothing can be equally desirable, to the soul, as the increasing with all the increase of God. But while grace prompts the soul, to desire this more and more, the same grace, doth as carnestly teach the believer, to be thankful for what he hath.

Satisfied by the evidences given, that you are truly brought, into the courts of the Lord's house, and united to Christ Jesus, as a branch in the vine; bless God, for such distinguishing mercy. And while in humble waitings, in the appointed way of ordinances, you are seeking an increase, from the Lord, do not overlook, nor despise, (for we know the Lord doth not) the day of small things.

Recollect also, that it is in grace, as in nature. Though the branches of the tree, are not all equally lofty, or equally luxuriant; yet the humblest, and the lowest bough, if really a part of it, is as much nourished, and sustained, from the root, as the strongest, and the highest. And is not that a sweet reflection to the soul, that Jesus's care is peculiarly exercised, over the low, and the weak, and such as from their situation are more immediately exposed to danger? To

use

use another beautiful image of scripture; while he feeds his flock like a Shepherd in the day that he is among his sheep, to seek that which was lost, and to bind up that which was broken, and to strengthen that which was sick he is said, to gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young.

I have been so very diffuse, in the illustration of the doctrine of the text, in the opening of my discourse, and have so generally incorporated the practical inferences arising out of it, as we have gone along, that there will be the less reason for detaining you, with any length of application in conclusion.

I dare not indeed, consistent with the duty of my office, of supplying some portion for every one in the congregation, I dare not shut up the subject altogether, without dropping a word to such of my audience, as at present feel themselves uninterested in the blessed promises of the text, because they are uninfluenced in the doctrine of it.

Very obvious it must be, without my remarking it, that if the great mercies of a state of flourishing,

flourishing, and fruitfulness, spoken of, as belonging to God's house, are wholly depending upon the event of being planted there; unless this act takes place, neither can be found. It were a folly to look for the effect, without the And the alternative is awful indeed. That solemn declaration of the Lord Jesus upon the point, is a volume; Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

Shall I beg of you therefore my Brother, from a conscious sense of the vast importance of the thing itself, to look diligently lest you fail of the grace of God. Never forget, that the most plentiful ordinances, void of this life-giving power, are all nothing. The rain, and the dew, and the clouds' fatness, drop in vain, on rocks and sands.

Gracious God! accomplish thy great work of conversion, (if it be thy blessed will) in the hearts of some who hear me this day. And now before the axe is laid at the root of the tree; before that awful sentence is gone forth, cut it down why cumbereth it the ground: let that precious promise to Israel of old, be their portion; Bring them out, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place O Lord,

*Matth. 15. 13.

Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary O Lord which thy hands have established. † Then will they be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord that thou mayest be glorified.

Suffer me to add, for the encouragement of the faithful, that I trust in God, no faint, or thirsty soul, will depart, without knowing his personal interest, in the sweet promises of the text, and having as feelingly received their accomplishment, in his own experience.

Your very wants carry with them this life of dependence; and on whom shall the faint rest, but upon the strong, the strong, or where shall they thirsty be filled, but at the fountain head? Every exercise of grace leads the soul to Jesus, and the more necessitous your circumstances are the stronger should be the motives to live upon his fulness. Go then my Brother, go unto JeAnd take with you this one observation, as a never-failing truth, answerable to all exigencies: Whatever brings you closer to him, must be a blessing, however disguised it may be in a covering of sorrow.

sus.

There is more space in the heart, to be filled from the Infinite Creator, when the creature is

most

+ Exod. 15. 17.

Isaiah 61. 3.

most emptied. And the preciousness of Jesus, will be best known, when the soul hath literally nothing else left, that is precious. A Believer may, and I hope doth, sometimes feel the grace which is in Christ Jesus, when his blessings are multiplied, upon him. But depend upon it, the sweetest season for the soul, to say as the Prophet did, Yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation, is when the fig tree doth not blossom, and the fields yield no meat.

May that sweet promise be fulfilled, as it may be required; I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.*