God avenge them of their adverfaries.. Call upon me in the time of trouble (fays God); I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. And again, I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as filver is refined, and try them as gold is tried; they fhall call upon my name, and I will bear them; and I will fay, It is my people; and they shall fay, The Lord is my God. This fhould be carefully and diligently attended to when the Holy Spirit is illuminating, quickening, reproving, and convincing the finner; and if it is neglected the Spirit refents it, and makes confcience accufe the finner for this his neglect, and he is often covered with fhame and confufion of face when he goes to the throne of grace again. Nor is it feldom that some disaster or other befalls the fenfible finner, under this fin of omiffion, when prayer has been neglected; and oftentimes the finner is informed of this when he comes to examine himself. Prayer, in the times of the gofpel, was typified by the offering of incenfe under the law, which was perpetual morning and evening; and prayer goes by the fame name under the gospel. For from the rifing of the fun even unto the going down of the fame my name fhall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incenfe fhall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name fhall be great among the heathen, faith the Lord of hofts. Mal. i. 11.

Moreover, God requires of us thank-offerings for favours received.-I will make her wilderness

like Eden, and her defart like the garden of the Lords joy and gladness fhall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. The fouls of God's faints are often filled with joy and gladness, that thankgiving and the voice of melody may redound to the glory of God, by humble acknowledgments of his mercies, and by finging his praifes.

Furthermore, we should celebrate thofe perfections of God which fhine fo bright in his appointment of Chrift Jefus to be the Saviour of mankind; which is done by fpeaking good, or by making honourable mention, of his holy name; and by proclaiming the glorious perfections of his nature, making them famous and illuftrious among mankind; praifing and commending the holy properties of his nature; and enumerating and extolling them, by fpeaking of his manifold and wonderful works, and of the innumerable mercies and bleffings of his providence and grace towards us in Chrift Jefus. The fcriptures abound with fuch afcriptions, acclamations, and celebrations, in the saints' holy triumphs. David is famous for this; there is fcarce a revealed attribute of God but he makes honourable mention of.

As holinefs.-God hath fworn by his holiness, I will rejoice.

Power.-Sing unto the Lord a new fong, for his own right band and fretched-out arm bath gotten bimfelf the victory.

His might and reign, his glory and majesty.Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his

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greatness

greatness is unfearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and fhall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majefty, and of thy wondrous works. And men fhall Speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatnefs. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall fing of thy righteousness. All thy works shall praife thee, O Lord; and thy faints fball bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the fons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majefty of his kingdom. Pfalm cxlv. 3—7, 10—12. Almost every perfection of the Divine Being is brought forth in the holy triumphs of the royal pfalmift, juftice and judgment not excepted.-Juftice and judgment are the babitation of his throne ; mercy and truth fhall go before thy face. Of lovingkindness David fings; of faithfulness and truth; of goodness, pity, and compaffion; and of mercy, and the eternal duration of it, throughout a whole pfalm.

Different frames and different difpenfations call for different offerings and exercises. Is any afflicted? let him pray. Times of trouble and times of affliction in the furnace are feafons for extraordinary prayers; the common morning and evening facrifices are not fufficient at fuch times; we must give ourselves unto prayer; give up ourselves wholly unto it, and attend to this very thing. Nor will the old common way, no, nor even the ufual mode

of

of expreffions, do. Fiery trials call for fresh power, and even for agonizing energy; new words, new arguments, and unusual pleas and entreaties must be made use of; our arguments and pathetic pleadings muft tally with our dreadful fenfations. Souls that meditate terror must fetch their words from their feelings, or else the words of their mouth will run counter to the meditations of their heart. We must ufe all the skill and oratory of diftrefs, grief, and forrow, and all the eloquence of mifery. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made fupplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the duft praise thee? fhall it declare thy truth? Pfalm xxx. 8, 9. Will the Lord caft off for ever? and will be be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth bis promife fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath be in anger fhut up his tender mercies? Pfalm lxxvii. 7-9. For the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth, Ifa. xxxviii, 18.

As times of affliction are praying times, or times to give ourselves unto prayer; fo times of profperity are times for praife, for thankfgiving, and for finging with grace in our hearts, making melody to the Lord. If we would fow to the Spirit we muft observe these things; and likewife fhun all damnable herefies, which have the least tendency to depreciate the Son of God, or to eclipfe his glory, or leffen him in our esteem or affections. The Holy Spirit is

both the teftifier and the glorifier of Chrift, and he will never countenance any low, mean, unworthy, or unbecoming conceptions of him. I am not speaking of the evil fuggeftions or fiery darts of Satan, which we cannot help, and which are Satan's fins and not ours; but of those damnable principles and fentiments which fome men hold, and which diveft the Saviour of all the glory and majefty of deity, and debase him to the level of a mere creature, which is what God the Holy Ghost will ever refift and resent.

Sowing to the Spirit internally, is to walk as the Spirit leads us; he is to guide us into all truth, and not to speak of himfelf. This chiefly refpects our principles, the object of our faith and worship, and the true and spiritual worship and adoration which God requires of us; the whole of which is included in what the scripture calls the way of boliness, Isaiah xxxv. 8; which is following the Lord in the regeneration. Matt. xix. 28. In which following all things become new; not only a new birth, but we are brought into the bond of a new covenant, are made to serve in the newness of fpirit, with new views and new principles, and to walk in a new and living way.

The Spirit leads us to walk with God in peace and equity. These two, peace and equity, always go together. When the believer keeps a conscience void of offence he delights himself in the abundance of peace; he makes straight paths for his feet, and he