1 arise from total ignorance of God's way of working, as well as from a secret wish, to exalt the supposed powers of flesh and blood. Man is too deeply sunk too mortally wounded, ever to lend the helping hand to the work of regeneration, were it required; nor does God, when he is determined to work, wait for the sinner's compliance; but makes him willing in the day of his power. To those who are made willing, by the sacred operation of the Holy Ghost, grace appears sovereign and free while the free invitation of the Gospel, to the weary and heavy laden, greatly endears the maker of so rich! so precious a feast! 15. STILL THERE IS HOPE, 3 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in A hope, ---Rom. VIII. 20. :71 AMIDST the various scenes on earth, My soul survey thy nobler birth, A 2. In ev'ry thing the eye surveys, 3. But there's a cov'nant, fixt and sure, 4. Then when my flesh and heart shall fail, The text that stands at the head of this piece, with its connexion, is not easily to be explained; I have heard it accommodated several ways; but, in every instance, much room has been left for a question. Not attempting, however, to explain the text, I would observe: All that human nature contains is vanity, pride, and sin; and the believer when he looks at, and forms just conceptions of the world, in all its delicacies, is ready to say: He "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." blesses God who hath begotten him again to a lively hope; and sometimes longs for the day when hope shall give place to full enjoyment. 16. THE SAFE ARRIVAL OF GOD'S ELECT. Whom he did predestinate---them he also glorified.--Rom. viii. 30. 1. IN yon bright world there now appears Jesus hath wip'd away their tears, 2. No sorrow, sickness, death, nor pain, 3. God, th' Eternal Three in One, 4. O! blissful hour! transporting thought! 5. The Lord hath sworn, his oath is past, The Saints shall persevere; On Zion's summit all, at last, Shall with their Lord appear. 6. Their sorrow's o'er, their joys complete, New wonders they explore; They cast their crowns beneath his feet, The glorification of the Elect is the last link in the golden chain of God's immutable decrees; take away the last link and the beautiful work of infinite Wisdom is at once marred; but is it possible to subvert his design? can any circumstance, or thing, render inefficacious those designs, which were all adjusted in the eternal mind, ere man, or angel, or sin existed? Ultimate glory is the mark to which every believer, in faith and hope, aims; but every doctrine which holds out the possibility of his faith and hope being frustrated in time, is an arrow to his heart, and spreads a gloom over his whole soul. Nor is it less dishonoring to the Lord Jesus, than distressing to his people: If the faith and hope which Christ gives to his Elect may be lost, or sinned away, it reflects on the wisdom, and on the power of the giver; and then, both devils and those whose faith had failed, would have just reason to reflect on Christ, in language similar to this: This man began to build ; but was not able to finish: where, then, would be the honor of the Builder? 17. A VIEW OF THE HEART. I am carnal, sold under sin.-.-Rom. vii. 14. 1. LORD what a wretched, wretched heart 2. I groan and pray and cry and strive Can it be thus in those who live? 3. Can such besetting evils dwell Could black corruption rise and swell, 4. To thee, dear Lord, for light I cry, On this my darksome path; |