BAXTER'S DYING THOUGHTS. 53 long ago ? And is he not still the agent and witness of Christ, re- sidingand operating in thee ? Whence else are thy groanings after God ; thy desires to be nearer to his glory ; tq know him better ; to love him more? Whence came all the pleasure thou hast had in his sacred truth, and ways, and service? Who else overcame thy folly, and pride, and vain desires, so far as they are over- come? Who made it thy choice to sit at the feet of Christ, and hear his word, as the better part, and to despise the honors and preferments of the world, and to account them all as dung and dross? Who breathed in thee all those requests that thou hast sent up to God ? Overvalue not corrupted nature ; it bringeth not forth such fruits as these: if thou doubt of that, remember what thouwast in the hour oftemptation, evenof poor and weak temp- tations. And how small a matter bath drawn thee to sin, when Gòd did but leave thee to thyself. Forget not the days of youth- ful vànity: overlook not the case of the miserable world, even of thy sinfbl neighbors, who, in the midst of light, stilrlive in dark- ness, ald hear not the loudest calls of ,God : look about on thou- sands that,in the same land, and under the same teaching, andafter the greatest judgment and deliverance, run en to all excess of riot, and, as past feeling, as greedily vicious and unclean. Is it no work of Christ's Spirit that bath made, thee to differ? Thou hast noth- ing to boast of, and much tobe humbled for; but thou hast also much to be thankful for. Thy holy desires are, alas ! too weak ; but they are holy : thy love hath been too cold; but it is holiness, and the most holy God, that thou 'hast . loved. Thy hopes in God have been too low ; but it is God thou bast hoped in, and his love and glory thou hast hoped for. Thy prayers have been too dull and interrupted ; but it is holiness and heaven that thou hast most prayed for. Thy labors and endeavors have been too slothful; but it is God, and glory, and the good of mankind, that thou hast labored for. Though thy motion were too weak and slow, it hath been Godward; and, therefore, it was fromGod. O bless the Lord, that hath not only given thee a word that beareth the image of God, and is sealed by uncontrolled miracles, to be the matter of thy belief, but hath also fulfilled his promises so oft and notably to thee, in the answer of prayers, and in great and convincing deliver- ances of thyself and many others ; and hath, by wonders, oft assist- ed thy faith ! Bless that God of light and love, who, besides the universal attestation of his word, long ago given to all the church, bath given thee the internal seal, the nearer in-dwelling attestation, the effects of power, light, and love, imprinted on thy nature,mind, and will, the witness in thyself, that the word of God is not a human dream, or lifeless thing; that by regeneration bath been here preparing thee for the light of glory, as bygeneration hé pre-
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