AND the Apoftles faid unto the Lord, Increase our Faith. Luke xvii. 5. How neceffary is this Prayer continually throughout the whole Course of our Lives; and efpecially when we are to forgive Injuries, and to facrifice to Love the deceitful Sweetness of Revenge! Faith decays every Moment, unless it be supported by Prayer Prayer owes its Birth to Faith; but Faith owes its Increase to Prayer and both are a Gift of God in every Degree --- Lord, Thou alone, canft infufe, preferve, and perfect thy Gifts in us, and make them helpful and fubfervient one to another. Away my unbelieving Fear! Barren altho' my Soul remain, And no one Bud of Grace appear, No Fruit of all my Toil and Pain, But Sin, and only Sin is here: Altho' my Gifts and Comforts loft, My blooming Hopes cut off I fee, Yet will I in my Saviour truft, And glory that he dy'd for me, THEN drew near unto him all the Publicans and Sinners for to hear him. Luke xv. 1. Chrift draws Sinners to him, and does not treat them as Perfons unworthy to hear his Word. --- To hear it with Pleasure, is one of the firft Steps toward Converfion --- To what End did our bleffed Saviour come into the World, if it were not that the Sick might feek their Phyfician, that the Blind might draw near to the Light, the Ignorant to Truth, and the Miferable to Mercy? ---To draw near to Chrift by Faith, Prayer, Love, and Meditation upon his Word, is almoft every Thing which is to be done in this Life. Lamb of God for Sinners flain, To Thee I feebly pray, From this Bondage, Lord, release, ND he faid, A certain Man had two Sons :---And the younger of them faid to his Father, Father, give me the Portion of Goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his Living. Luke xy. II, 12. AND Sons. - The Prodigal Son is an Emblem of a Sinner. How dangerous is it for us to defire to be at our own Difpofal, to live in a State of Independency, and to be governed only by ourselves! It is the greatest Mark of the Wrath of God, for Him to hearken to this proud Inclination of our corrupt Hearts, and to leave us to ourselves. What is the Will of Man (light and inconftant as it is) if it be not governed by the unchangeable Will of the Creator?" It withdrew itself from his Guidance and Direction, even when it was found, and by fo doing impaired and ruined its Health; and therefore now that it is blind, fick, and fainting, how extremely does it want the Support of his divine Hand. Ye Sons of Adam, vain and young, Pursue the Pleasures you defign, [Wine, AND not many Days after, the younger Son gathered all together, and took his Journey into a far Country, and there wasted his Substance with riotous Living. Luke xv. 13. Man cannot be guided long by himself, without finding, by fatal Experience, that he is under the Direction of every blind and deceitful Guide. The Mifery of a Sinner has its Degrees, and he generally arrives Step by Step at the highest Pitch of it. The first Degree of his Mifery is, That he lofes Sight of God, and removes at a Distance from him. There is an infinite Distance between the Love of GoD and the Love of ourselves; and yet we pass in a Moment from the one to the other. The fecond Degree of the Sinner's Mifery is, That the Love of God no longer reigning in his Heart, carnal Love and Defire must neceffarily reign therein, and corrupt all his Actions. The third Degree is, That he lofes all the fpiritual Riches of his Soul. Self love is a very bad Guardian, and a great Wafter of the Divine Gifts. He only, who bestows them on us, can fecure them; and we endeavour to lose them, if we pretend to keep them without him. No, I fhall envy them no more, Who grow profanely great, They taste of all the Joys that grow, Upon this earthly Clod! A ND when he had spent all, there arofe a mighty Famine in that Land; and he began to be in Want. Luke xv. 14. The fourth Degree of a Sinner's Mifery is, that having forfaken God, and loft his Grace, and his Love, he can find nothing elsewhere, but Poverty, Mifery, and Want. --- It is juft, that He, who thought he could be happy without God, fhould find, at a Diftance from him, nothing but Affliction, Neceffity, and Oppreffion. How empty is that Soul which no longer enjoys the Bread of Truth! What a Famine is there in that Heart which is no longer nourished with Love. The Vengeance to your Follies due, Should strike your Hearts with Terror thro', |