432 DIRECTIONS AND PERSUASIONS all the works of God which you behold, would show you his majesty, his love and power, and lead you to himself. You could not open your Bible, but you would find in it the blessed lines of love: O what good it 'Would do you to read there the blessed attri- butes of your God ! to look upon his name ! to peruse the description of his most perfect nature ! What good would it do you to read of the nature; and incar- nation, and life, and death, and resurrection, and ascension, and intercession, And return of your bles- sed Redeemer ! What good would it do you to find those holy rules which your new nature is agreeable to, and to read over the law that is written in your hearts, and to read the curse from which you are de- livered ! What life and joy would your. souls receive from the many, and full, and free promises of grace ! Were you once but truly sanctified and made new, your condition would be often comfortable, but al- ways safe; and when you were in the greatest fears and perplexities, you would still be fast in the arms of Christ ! And what a life would that be, to have daily access to God in prayer ; to have leave in all your wants and dangers, to seek him with a promise of hearing and success ! that you may be sure of much more from him,- than a child can from the tenderest father, or a wife from the most loving hus- band upon earth ! What a life would it be, when you may always think on God as your felicity, and fetch your highest- delights from whom the ungodly have their greatest terrors ! And it is no contemptible part of your benefits, that you may live among his people, and in their special love, and have a special communion with them, and interest in their prayers, and may possess among them the privileges of the saints, and the ordinances of 'God : that instead of idle talk, and the'unprofitable fellowship of the chil- dren and works of darkness, you may join with the church of God in his praises, and feed with them at his table on the body and blood of Christ, and then have conveyances of renewed grace, and a renewed par- don sealed to your souls. But how long should I stay
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