But there is another time, and one of yet nobler refreshment, which shall undoubtedly come from the presence of the Lord, and in which we shall each of us have our own part; when Christ, whom the heavens are to retain till the time of the restitution of all things, shall come to set all things in order. Great disorder there seems to be, and it seems a mystery, that so many millions of his servants should die, and turn to dust. But he will roll away that reproach. He will make their death the everlasting monument of his power, and his grace. How finely is this expressed in Isaiah; " Thy dead men shall live,” (speaking to the Church), "even as my dead body shall they revive. Awake therefore and sing, ye that dwell in the dust :" Awake, and tune your new made tongues to anthems of immortal joy and thankfulness; "for your dew is as the dew of herbs;" that is, a plentiful dew shall fall upon you, whose bones have been scattered like chips of wood upon the borders of the grave. A copious dew from the Lord shall descend upon you, and the earth shall cast forth her dead; a sumptuous and a glorious harvest shall suddenly cover the face of the earth! O how delightful a view! How refreshing to behold! How much more to partake of this triumph! Some have thought, that those who were raised out of their graves at the resurrection of Christ ascended to heaven with him. Suppose it had been so, that they had all been assembled with him around the Mount, and ascended to heaven in his train, what a pleasing sight to his disciples! How much more glorious a spectacle shall this be, which we shall not only behold but share! O my friends, in the view of it we feel a refreshment, and we may well believe it, for we see some things before our faces containing the memorial of a past fact, far more wonderful than this. The wonder is, that Christ should be incarnate and die! not that he should rise and ascend! and that having died for his people, he should yet leave them for a

while under the power of Death! not that he should at length redeem them from it! Let us then commemorate that great transaction, which throws so beautiful a light upon the other, and lays so glorious a foundation for our expectation of it.

At the Lord's table I urged grateful returns; put in my claim, in the name of Christ, to urge upon them the love and service the constant, faithful, zealous service, of all that would indeed believe in him. What have you done for him since last at the Lord's table? What will you do for him in the interval of time before the next? What can you contrive to do for his interest?

(Memorandum.) After this ordinance I thought of an expedient—to write a letter to Dissenting Ministers, to be delivered after my death to those for the time being, the places to be mentioned in a codicil to my will.

MEDITATIONS AT THE LORD'S TABLE, AUGUST 15, 1742. THIS was the first sacrament after my return from that long journey which I made this year through the southern and western counties, in which I was present at the ordination of Mr. Fawcett, Mr. R. Johnston, and Mr. John Jennings, as well as at the opening of the new meeting place at Rochford in Essex, where I preached the first sermon. There was a remarkable hand of providence upon me for good, during the whole journey, but I have great reason to be humbled under the many sins and follies of it; especially that sad estrangedness of heart from God, and attachment to animal enjoyments, which was too ready to prevail in the midst of so many mercies. God was pleased to rebuke this by several bitter afflictions: the death of Mrs. Francis B. once my servant; then that of Mr. G. that useful man, from whom we had great, and, humbly speaking, very just expectations for many years; the foolish marriage of Mr. Blanch; all concurring to afflict me in my absence from

home; together with the illness of Mr. and Mrs. Evans, and of Mrs. B.; and (which pierced me yet deeper than any thing else) the dangerous illness of my dear wife, who miscarried on the Wednesday before my return, and was in such an extremity, that some about her thought she would have died, which, if it had happened just as I was returning to her with too fond an affection, and too eager an expectation, would, I fear, have proved fatal to me; at least it would have been a wound never to have been healed. Nor could I be so insensible of the former impressions of the most tender and endearing friendship, with which both our hearts were too fondly possessed, as not to be struck with the news which I received of the death of poor dear Kitty,* who, while I am writing this, is carrying out to the grave: but I doubt not but that her triumphant spirit is with God in glory, and sharing those sublime pleasures to which I once taught her to aspire; though, alas! I was the means too of dragging her down to some inordinances of affection, which proved the very occasion of its own disappointment, and planted painful daggers in both our hearts. God grant, that the interview and endearments of the heavenly world may at length counterbalance all the vanity and vexation of spirit into which we were, through an unbounded mutual passion, the means of leading each other.

With the pressure upon my mind, which this concurrence of circumstances so naturally excited, I came to the table of the Lord; and having preached from Jeremiah xxix. 11, “I know the thoughts which I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end;" I introduced this solemnity with those in Isaiah: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to

Then the late Mrs. Sharp.

them that have no might he increaseth strength." God speaks to Israel when weary and weak; speaks as if it were news to them, that there was an almighty being, as if they had not known it—and surely experience might have taught them as if they had not heard before, the most distant report, that an eternal, self-existent being is also self-sufficient; that He who created the whole world supports the ends of the earth, and creation, in its utmost limits, fainteth not: he cannot have exhausted all his power-cannot have acted till he is grown weary, and so must sink under his work, and remain incapable of supporting and taking care of the creatures which he himself has made. Yet we cannot say, whether we do not too frequently behave as if this were the case; as if there were no God, and we had no interest in him; or as if he were weak and wearied out. Neither is there any searching of his understanding. What, wilt thou dare to arraign his conduct? What is that but saying, I have examined, and I find in this or that instance my understanding superior to his; in this or that particular he has failed, has not done so wisely and so well as I could have wished, and as he might have done. But who has made that inquiry? Who has sounded that unfathomable sea, that he should say, thus far it reaches? But know, O mistaken and inconsiderate creature, knowest thou not, that God has not only strength for himself, but that he is the fountain of all strength to all created nature! He gives strength to the feeble, and can make the feeblest as strong as he pleases. He can speak strength into them by one breath of his spirit, and diffuse an unknown energy. Whence the strength of the angels? They were brought out of nothing; and if they have any strength, it is that of God working in them; and if God makes a mortal man as strong as an angel, it shall be. We may derive from hence a kind of omnipotence, so as to be able to say, in faith, I can do all things. I am sufficient for all things, through

I am returning to the la

him that strengthens me; can perform every labour, and bear every affliction! Let us therefore Let us therefore go to him. Alas! we do not ourselves know what difficulties may lie before us. Perhaps, before another month, God may take away the desire of our eyes with the stroke of his power. He may send as heavy afflictions on us, as those which the hearts of our dear brethren are labouring under. But he gives strength to the feeble. Let us, then, make God our strength in the duties of life. bours of a Pastor, and a Tutor. It is a great work: but his promise is not grown ineffectual; it has not lost its energy by the many thousand years it has continued in the bible. "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be;" thy day, O Christian, whoever thou art; and therefore I will say, as my day is, so shall my strength be also. All this is to be derived from Christ; from him as our great head; and we are cemented to him by his blood, and nourished by that. To that therefore let us come. The meditations at the distribution of the elements were not peculiar, but consisted of lively addresses to the spectators, and prayer for the communicants; which may God answer and succeed.

MEDITATIONS AT THE LORD'S TABLE, OCTOBER 3, 1742. I MUST number this day, among the most pleasant of my life, so far as the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was concerned. My meditations were turned upon those words, "Thou art my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." In these words, God owns Israel in the relation of a servant; and oh, what a happiness to be thus honoured! What title, but that of a child of God, so near as his servant? Moses my servant; My servant Job; and here, Israel my servant. He looks on all his people in that view; he speaks of them all by that title.