with less I should be infinitely miscrable. The kingdoms of the skies should not buy my title to thee, and thy love: the blessedness of all creatures is complete here; for God himself is blessed in himself for ever.

What can I ad1, for all my words are faint,
Celestial love no eloquence can paint?

No more can be in mortal sounds express'd,
But vast eternity shall tell the rest.

VII. A Covenant with God.

INCOMPREHENSIBLE Being, who "searchest the "heart, and triest the reins of the children of men," thou knowest my sincerity, and my thoughts arc all unveiled to thee; I am surrounded with thine immensity; thou art a present, tho' invisible witness of the solemn affair I am now engaged in. I am now "taking hold of thy strength, that I may "make peace with thee," and entering into articles. with the Almighty God. These are the happy days long since predicted, when "one shall say, "I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself "by the name of Israel, and another shall subscribe "with his hand to the Lord; and I will be their "God, and they shall be my sons and my daughters, "saith the Lord JEHOVAH."

With the most thankful sincerity I take hold of this covenant as it is more fully manifested and explained in the gospel by Jesus Christ; and hum

bly accepting thy proposals, I bind myself to thee by a sacred and everlasting obligation. By a free and deliberate action, I do hereby ratify the articles which were made for me in my baptism, into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ;. I religiously devote myself to thy service, and entirely submit to thy conduct. I renounce the glories and vanities of the world, and chuse thee as my happiness, my supreme felicity, and everlasting portion. I make no article with thee for any thing besides; deny or give me what thou wilt, I will never repine, while my principal treasure is secure.. This is deliberate, my free and sincere determination; a determination which, by thy grace, I will

never retract.

Oh! thou, by whose power alone I shall be able to stand," Put thy fear in my heart, that I

may never depart from thee:" let not the world, with all its flatteries nor death, nor hell, with all their terrors, force me to violate this sacred vow. Oh! let me never live to abandon thee nor draw the impious breath that would deny thee.

And now let surrounding angels witness for me, that I solemnly devote all the powers and faculties of my soul to thy service; and when I presumptuously employ any of the advantages thou hast given me to thy dishonour, let them testify against me, and let my own words condemn me.

ELIZABETH Rowe.

Thus have I subscribed to thy gracious proposals, and engaged myself to be the Lord's; and now let the malice of men, and the rage of devils, combine against me. I can defy all their stratagems; for God himself is become my friend, Jesus my allsufficient Saviour, and the Spirit of God, I trust, will be my sanctifier and my comforter.

O happy day! transporting moment! the bright est period of my life! heaven with all its lights smiles on thee; what glorious mortal can now excite my envy? what scene to tempt my ambition could the whole creation display? let glory call me with her exalted voice; let pleasure with a softer eloquence allure me; the world in all its splendour appears but a trifle, while the infinite God is my portion. He is mine by as sure a title as eternal veracity can confer; the right is unquestionable, the conveyance unalterable. The mountains shall be removed, and the hills be dissolved, before the everlasting obligation shall be cancelled.

VIII. A Thank-offering for saving grace.

"BLESS the Lord, O my soul, and all that is with"in me, bless his holy name: bless the Lord, and "forget not all his benefits, who redeemeth thy "life from destruction, and crowneth thee with "loving kindness, and tender mercy;" who brought thee out of the mire and clay, and set

Blest effect

ever an il

thy foot upon a rock; who broke thy fetters, and freed thee from the miserable bondage of sin. I lay, a wretched slave, pleased with my chains, and fond of my captivity, fatally deluded and undone, till love, almighty love, rescued me. of unmerited grace? I shall stand for lustrious instance of boundless mercy must entirely ascribe my salvation, and through all the ages of eternity I will rehearse the wonders of redeeming love, and tell to listening angels what it has done for my soul.

I'll sing the endless miracles of love;

For ever that my lofty theme shall prove.

to that I

My glorious Creator, why did I employ thy thoughts before I had a being? why from all eternity was an immortality designed me, and my birth allotted me in a land illuminated with the rays of sacred light? I might have been invoking the powers of hell with detesable ceremonies, instead of adoring the omnipotent God. But when thousands are lost in these delusions, why am I thus graciously distinguished? Instead of being born among the shameful vices of impious parents, and an heir to their curses, why am I intitled to the blessing of religious ancestors! Why, when I was incapable of choice, was I devoted to the God that

keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand gene"rations of them that fear him??

Why, when I knew thee not, didst thou sustain me? But oh! why, when I knew thee, and rebelled against thee, why didst thou so long suffer my ingratitude? Why did thy watchful providence perpetually surround me, crossing all the methods. I took to undo myself? Why was I not cursed with my own wishes, and left to the quiet possession of those vanities I delighted in; those toys which I foolishly preferred to all the treasures of thy love? Why didst thou pursue me with the offers of thy favour, when I fled thee with such aversion, and had fled thee for ever, if thou hadst not compelled me to return.

Why did thy Spirit strive so long with an obsti nate heart, which resisted all its motions, and turned thy patience and long-suffering into provocation and guilt? Why am I not undone by those pleasing snares in which I have seen so many deluded wretches perish? Like them I despised the unsearchable riches of thy grace; with them I had been content to share the sorry portion and pleasures of this world, if thou hadst let me alone, and I should never have inquired after thee; but why wast thou found of one that sought thee not? O why, but "because thou wilt be merciful to whom "thou wilt be merciful ?"

Therefore, again with astonishment and delight, I look back on the methods of thy grace; and again I consider myself lost in an abyss of sin and misery; when there was no eye to pity me, no