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QÚ
SURS
AND
SORaDws
SPREAD
SÉPORE
GOD.
tSERM.
VI.
the best
follower
of Christ:
for
our
Lord spent
much
time
in
converse with
his
heavenly
Father. This
is
balm
that
eases the most
raging pains
of
the
mind,
when
the
wounded conscience
comes to the mercy
-
seat,
and
finds
pardon and
peace there.
This
is
the cordial
that
revives
and
exalts
our natures, when the
spirit, broken
with
sorrows, and almost fainting to death, draws
near to the
Almighty Physician,
and
is
healed and
refreshed.
The
mercy
-seat
in
heaven
is
our surest
and sweetest refuge
in
every
hour
of
distress and darkness
on
earth
:
This
is
our
daily
support
and
relief, while we
are
passing
through a
world
of
temptations and hardships
in
the
way
to
the
promised land.
It
is
good for
us
to
draw
near
to
God,
Ps.
lxxiii. 28.
And yet
so
much
is
human
nature
sunk down
and
fallen from
God,
that
even
his own
children are ready to
indulge
a
neglect
of
converse with
him,
if
their
souls
are
not
always
upon the
watch.
But let it
be
remembered
here,
that
so
much
as
we
abate
of
this
divine
entertain-
ment
among the vanities or amusements
of
the
world,
the
businesses
or burdens
of
life;
so
much
we
lose
of
the
glory
and
joy of
religion,
and deprive our
souls
of
the comfort
that God
invites
us
to receive.
Job
was
encompassed
with
sorrows
all
around, and
his friends
had censured
him as
a
vile
hypocrite, and
a
"great
sinner, because
he was so
terribly
afflicted by
the
hand
of
God
;
whither should
he
run
now
but
to
his
heavenly
Father,-and
tell him
of
all
his sufferings?
From
the
practice
of
this holy man,
I thought
we
might
have sufficient
warrant
to draw this
inference,
viz.
That
when
a
-saint
gets
near
to
God
in prayer, he
tells
him all
his circumstances, and pleads for
help: And
that
is
the
doctrine
which
I
am
endeavouring
now to im-
prove.
"
O
if
I
could
but
come
near
him,
even
to
his
seat,
I
would
order
my
cause before
him
:
I
would
spread
all
my
concerns before
his eye,
and I
would plead
with him fdr
relief:
I
would
fill
my
mouth
with
argu-
ments."
Four
things
I
proposed
in
the prosecution
of
this
doc-
trine.
I. To
consider what
it
is
for
a
soul
to
get
near
to
God
in
prayer.
IL What particular
subjects
loth
a
soul, thus
a