blind, naked, wretched, and miferable, and to whofoever will come, To you is the word of this falvation fent. Chrift doth befeech you to be reconciled, and to beware of coming fhort of the promise, by unbelief; fuch a promife as that, Whofoever believeth in the Son fhall not perish, but have eternal life: And that, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wife caft out: Befides many others; John iii. 16-vi. 37. Rev. iii. 17, 18, 20.—xxii. 17. Prov. viii. 4. Ifa. xlv. 22.—xlvi. 12.-lv. 1. Mark xvi. 15. Luke xiv. 21, 22, 23. Acts ii. 39.—iii. 26. ——xiii. 26. 47. 2 Cor. v. 20. Heb. iv. 1.

Now, feeing the gofpel call and offer is given to every one, faith, which is the echo of the gospel call, muft needs receive an offered Chrift, and falvation through him, with particular application to the foul that believes. As Chrift offers himfelf, and his purchafe, to every foul in particular; fo faith appropriates Chrift to the foul itself in particular. And indeed, the life and sweetness of faith lies in this appropriation and applicatory act, when the foul is helped to fay with Thomas, Thou art my Lord, and my God: and with the fpoufe, My beloved is mine, and I am his and with David, Thou art my rock, and the God of my falvation. Unbelief would tempt me to put away the gofpel offer from me, faying, it doth not belong to me, I am not elected, nor defigned to fhare of Chrift's purchase: he did not love me, nor die for me. But in regard fecret things belong to God, my falvation is at ftake, my need of a Saviour is unfpeakable, and the offer is made to me; I have no time to loofe in difputing with the devil and unbelief, but I will go to Chrift on the ground I have. He tells me he came to fave finners, I am fure that is my name; he loved enemies, that is my name; he received gifts for the rebellious, that is my name; and now I hear the mafter calling and inviting me in particular: Therefore, in spite of the devil and unbelief, and all my guilt, I'll go forward, and accept of Chrift as my Saviour and my King; I'll truft him with my falvation, and believe he loved me, and gave himself for me,

vile and guilty as I am. This effay to believe, Lord, I make in thy ftrength, and in obedience to thy com mand: But, oh! my mints are weak and fecklefs! It is only the Spirit enlightening my mind, and opening up the gofpel call and promife to me, faying, To you is the word of this falvation fent; that determines me to make particular application of thy love-offer, by an acceptable appropriating faith: Let my help come from

thee.

O Lord, my fins are great and numerous; but, fhould I add to them this fin of refufing the remedy, and putting away Chrift's love and blood offered to me in the gofpel, this would be greater than all the reft; for fo I would bring not only my own. blood, but the guilt of the blood of God upon my head. This I dare not do: now my foul is at the ftake, now the remedy is in my offer, my need of it is great, I cannot delay clofing with it, yet a little while and my opportunity is gone, and I must change my dwelling for ever; and how can I go any where without my Saviour? Chrift I muft have to teach me, to juftify and fanctify me, none else can do it, on him all my help is laid. How fhall I go to a communion table without him? How will I death without him? How will I go to a judgement feat without him? Lord, my cafe is defperate without thee; wherefore I accept of thy offer, I believe thy love, I truft in thy merits, I apply thy blood, I appropriate thy purchase, and cry, My Lord, and my God. I confide in a fin-pardoning God, and reft on his promife to me, through Chrift's blood and merits, for life and falvation. And though clouds arife, and he should threaten even to flay me, yet I will truft in him as one that loved me, and gave himself for me.

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Object. But doth not the calling finners to fuch appropriating acts of faith, encourage the prefumptuous confidence of hypocrites to call God their God, like Balaam, Numb. xxii. 18. and to continue in fin? Anfw. No; thefe gofpel calls do encourage finners to love God, to repent and leave their fins; for, till we believe,

and taste something of God's love to us, we cannot love him, nor turn to him, 1 John iv. 19. We loved him, becaufe he first loved us. And the abuse or prefumption of hypocrites muft not hinder the publishing of free gofpel offers and promises.

Again, the appropriating faith of believers humbles the creature, deftroys felf-confidence, purifies the heart, draws forth the foul in love to God, and hatred to fin: Whereas the prefumption of hypocrites has no fuch effects.

It is the duty then of every man, that hath Chrift's love offers tendered to him to repent and believe the gofpel, to fee his loft ftate in Adam, and his need of Chrift, to be well pleafed with his gofpel device, receive Chrift in all his offices, to trust in him as his Saviour, and thereupon believe that his fins are forgiven through Chrift's blood; and fo perfuade and affure himself that Chrift is his, that he died for him, and that he fhall have life and falvation through him. This perfuafion and affurance being moft neceffary to the fpiritual life, it is the great duty of every one to prefs forward in the acts of faith, until they attain it, faith being ftill weak and lame without it. But feeing many believers have it not always, through prevailing doubts and unbelief, it muft furely belong more to the perfection of faith, than to the effence of it: Their cafe is like that of a fhipwrecked man that has got hold of a plank, he believes the plank is fufficient to bear him up, and keep him from finking, but the blowing ftorm, and his own weakness, make him doubt if his grip be faft enough to hold by it. Indeed, Lord, if thou didst not take fafter grips of me than I do of thee, my weak and flippery fingered faith, would foon let thee go; but I trust not in my faith, but in thy faithfulness; I truft not in my promises to thee, but in thine to me; that thou wilt never leave me, nor forfake me. Lord, do as thou haft faid; be it to me according to thy word.

From I JOHN iv. 19. We love him, because be first loved us.

No reafon can we give why God loved any of Adam's race, but only because he loved us: But good reafon can be given why we love God; both because he he is infinitely lovely in himself, and because he first loved us, and before we had any thoughts of love to him.. O what is our love, but a small stream that flows from and returns again to the ocean of his love! God's love to us is the fource, the incentive, the motive, and moral cause of our love to him. We can never love God, until fome rays of his everlasting love break out to us; for confcience of guilt, and fears of wrath, do rather incline us to hate him, and flee from him as an enemy, than to love him, and draw near to him: But the breaking out of the beams of God's ancient and preventing love to us in Jefus Chrift, makes way for breaking the enmity of our hearts, and bringing in the heavenly fire of love to him. The ferious confideration. of God's eternal free love to us, poor, wretched, and unlovely creatures, and his loving us at fuch a rate, as to feek and court our love at the expenfe of his Son's blood, is the moft powerful motive in the world to engage and draw out our love to him; and the more we have of the faith or feelings of this love, the warmer ftill will our love to him be. God's redeeming love difplayed to men doth obfcure all the feeming glories of this world, as much as the meridian fun doth darken candles or fmaller fires; and foon convinces us, that there is nothing that deferves our affections but God and Christ. No man that ever tafted the fweetness, but finds his heart warmed with love to him again. A forgiven foul cannot read his pardon but with tears of love and joy; and ftill there is much love where much is forgiven. We love him, becaufe he firft loved us.

Lord, at thy call, I go to thy table to admire and

give thanks for God's preventing love vented to man in the councils of peace, the covenant of redemption, in the incarnation, the death, the blood, and righteoufnefs of our God Redeemer. O amazing love! I admire it in the antiquity of it: God's love is from all eternity; his thoughts were long fet upon man before he had a being. I admire the freenefs and undefervednefs of this love; there was nothing in man to engage his love; he faw nothing in him but poverty, debt, impotency and deformity; yea, man was fo far from deferving any love from God, that he deferved all hatred, as being loathfome and full of enmity; having razed out the image of God, and got Satan's fet up in its room! Yet, even then, God loved him fo, as to give his deareft beloved Son to die for him; O, did God love man when utterly unworthy of his love! and fhall not we love God, who infinitely deferves all our affection, as being in himself entirely amiable, and altogether lovely; and likewife as affectionate to us, as he is lovely in himfelf! Lord Jefus, I admire the ftrength and ardency of thy love! Many waters of affliction did not quench it, and the floods of wrath that went over thee could not drown it! Strong was that love that made thee engage, and carried thee through in fuffering the pains both of the first and fecond death in our stead! Oh, I am ashamed and afflicted for my little love to thee! I marvel at the conftancy and ftedfaftness of thy love, that it continues firm to thy people from everlasfting to everlafting: and that it is never altered by all the unkind returns, provocations, and ingratitude thou meeteft with from them. I wonder at the fruits and effects of thy love! O how great! how fweet! how numerous! Who can value or set them forth Such as, " quenching the fire of juftice, dif"arming the law of its curfes, bruifing the ferpent's "head, paying believer's debt, obtaining for them re "generation, pardon of fin, peace with God, peace "with confcience, peace with angels, adoption into "God's family, juftification, fanctification, all the gra