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CONCLUDING ASPIRATIONS.

Amen. Hallelujah to God the Father, for having loved us, and given us his Son!

Hallelujah to the Son of love, the child of his Father's bosom, to the dear Immanuel, who has not despised us, but has deigned to visit us poor mortals with the radiance of his glory, and with the rays of his loving kindness!

Hallelujah to the Holy Spirit, and may he glorify Jesus Christ in all our hearts, that we may praise and glorify thee, our God, thee the Holy Trinity, to all eternity, for the wondrous love thou manifestest towards us the poor children of men!

O Jesus Christ, thou Son of God at the right hand of the Father, lift up thy priestly hands from thy sanctuary, and give us thy blessing. Powerfully say unto my heart, and unto the hearts of all us, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace!"

THE NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST.

May the sluices of divine mercy and love to man, which opened themselves so widely in the incarnation and birth of our dearest Saviour to the children of men, be extended unto us poor sinners, in grace and blessing, now and in the hour of death! Amen.

Beloved friends, notwithstanding I have suffered much from weakness, during the night, yet still I feel myself inclined and impelled, according to my promise of yesterday, to meditate with you upon the remainder of the words of the text I then discoursed upon, and refresh myself with you, at this table of the Lord. Nothing more is requisite in the matter, than that we believe a little more, and that we turn to God a little more cordially, in order to expect grace and blessing from him, and not from men. Let us therefore, first of all, incite our hearts to this, by singing a few verses of a hymn, and then elevate our hearts to God in prayer.

PRAYER.

Adoration, love, praise, and thanksgiving, be ascribed unto thee, thou ever-blessed and only-be

gotten Son of the Most High God, who, from love to us, didst become a poor child in the manger at Bethlehem! Be thou magnified by all that we have and are, for thine incomprehensible love and condescension! O deign to grant us more and more of the knowledge of thee and of thy divine love! O Lord Jesus! we hear and speak, and sing, and read, at this season, so much of thee, of thy love, and of thy condescension and birth; but ah! how little art thou still known, even amongst those, who are called Christians after thy name! O how little art thou sought, recognized, honoured, loved, and found in the hearts of men !

O dearest Immanuel, suffer us not, suffer not our needy hearts, as we are here present before thy face, on this last day of the feast, suffer us not to go away hungry let us not be sent empty away from this Christian festival, but be visited, refreshed, blest, and edified by thee in our hearts! Jesu! thou wast wont, in the days of thy flesh, to seize gladly every opportunity, in order to gain admittance to the hearts of men, and offer thyself to them; on Sabbath days and feast days, thou didst appear in the synagogue and in the temple. O Lord Jesus! do thou therefore seize this opportunity, and the present time, that it may be to us a season of grace and salvation. Behold, here is also an assembly of immortal souls, whom thou hast so dearly purchased with thy blood; souls, for whose sake, thou didst forsake thy glory, and didst appear in such lowliness. O Jesu! manifest thyself therefore in a lively manner; manifest

thyself as present in our midst, that we may be blessed of thee anew, and be enlightened with the light of thy vital knowledge in our hearts.

O Lord Jesus! we are now assembled here to listen to thee and thy word; direct our minds and affections to thy sweet and heavenly doctrines, that our hearts may be entirely drawn away from earth unto thee. Thou knowest that our knowledge and understanding is enveloped in darkness, unless the power of thy Spirit fill us with light; thou thyself must work in us that which is good, in word and deed. O thou reflection of glory, light of light from God, and born from the light of eternity, prepare us all for the reception of thy blessings; open our hearts, our mouths, and our ears, and let, O Lord Jesus! our prayers and supplications and praises prove acceptable in thy sight!

We read, once more, the words of our text-a part of which we have already treated upon-in the sixth verse of the 9th chapter of Isaiah, where he, who is justly called the Evangelical Prophet, thus proclaims the gospel of salvation.

ISAIAH IX. 6.

"Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

"Taste and see how good the Lord is!" It is thus the prophetic Spirit in David, exclaims in

xxxiv. Psalm, 9th verse.

"Taste and see how kind David, during his life,

and gracious the Lord is." had suffered and striven much; but he had also tasted and experienced much, in the course of his life, of the grace and goodness of God. At one time, he says, that God puts more joy into his heart than others experience in the abundance of their corn and wine. Ps. iv. 8. At another time he says, that God and his word were sweeter to him than honey or the honey-comb. Ps. xix. 11. Again he says, God and communion with God were more precious to him than many thousands of gold and silver, Ps. cxix. 72. He says further, that God has prepared a table before him in spite of his enemies. Ps. xxiii. 5. Yea, he says, that he abundantly satisfies him with the fatness of his house, and causes him to drink of the river of his pleasures. Ps. xxxvi. 8. And here, he says, "Taste and see how good the Lord is." He found, he tasted, he enjoyed so much in the God of blessedness, that he calls upon us, and all who read it, also to come and taste; as if he had said, 'I cannot give you to see it, you must first taste it; otherwise you will not understand it.'

Sweetness is not perceived by the sight, but by the taste. What God is, what Jesus is, what our Immanuel is, and what is to be found in Jesus our Immanuel, we cannot impart to each other by talking: we must experience it, we must taste and see how good the Lord is: we shall then know how to boast and tell of the good that is in God.

Taste and see how kind and good the Lord is.

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