BAXTER'S DYING TIIOUG,-ITS. 47 the course of common providence, and not indeed as an answer to our prayers. And therefore God in mercy reneweth both ourdis- tresses and our'deliverances, that what once or twice will not con- vince us of, many and great deliverances 'may. This is my own case. O,,how oft have I cried to him when men and means were nothing, and when no help in second causes didappear, and how oft, and suddenly, and mercifully, hath he delivered me ! What sudden ease, what removal of long afflictions, have I had! such extraordinarychanges, andbeyond myown and others' expectations, when many plain-hearted,'upright Christians have, by fasting and prayer, sought God on my behalf ; as have over and over convinced me of special providence, and that God is indeed ahearer of pray-+ ers. And wonders I have seen done for others also, upon such prayers, morethan for myself ; yea,, and wonders for the church and public societies. Though I and others are too like those Israelites, (Psalm lxxviii.) who cried to God in their troubles, and he oft delivered them out of their distress, but they quickly forgot his mercies, and their convictions, purposes, and promises, when they should have praised the Lord for his goodness, and declared his works with thanksgiving to the sons'of 'men. And what were all these answers and mercies but the fruits of Christ's power, fidelity, and love, the fulfillings of his promises, and the'earnest of the greater blessings of immortality, which the same promises give me title to ? I know that no promise,of hearing prayer setteth up our wills in absoluteness, or above God's, as if every will of ours must be ful- filled if we do but put it into a fervent or confident prayer; but if we ask any thing through Christ,- according to his will, expressed in his promise, be will hear us. If a sinful love of this present life, or,of ease, or wealth, or honor, should cause me to pray to God against death, oragainst all sickness, want, reproach, or other trials, as if I must live here in prosperity forever if I ask it, this sinful desire and expectation is not the work 9ffaith, but of presumption. What. if God will not abate me,my last, 'or daily pains ? What if he will continue my life no longer, whoever pray for it, and how earnestly soever ? Shall I therefore forget how oft he bath heard prayers for me, and how wonderfully,he hash helped both me and others ? My faith bath oft been helped by such experiences ; and shall I forget them, or question them without cause at last? VIII. And it is a subordinate help to my belief of immortality with Christ, to find so much evidence that angels have friendlycom- munion with us here, and therefore we shall have communion with them hereafter; Psalm xxxiv. 7. andxci. 11, 12. Luke xv. 10. 1 Cor. xj.. 10. Heb. i. 14. and xii. 22. and xiii. 2. Matti xviii. 10. and xxv: 31. and xiii. 39. 49. Acts v. 19. and viii. 26. andxii.
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