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THE
SOUL
DRAWING NEAR TO
GOD.
{BERM.
V.
I
applied
myselfto the mercy-seat, and
I
got near
to
the
throne of
grace
;
there I pleaded
with
my
God,
and
I
received this answer
from
him.
My grace
is
sufficient for
thee
;
then,
says he,
I
could glory in infirmities,
and in per-
secutions for Christ's
sake;.
for
when
I
am weak,
then
I
am
strong;
when
I
feel
my
own weakness,
and
.see
Al-
mighty
strength near
me,
and
engaged
on my side,
then
I
grow
strong
in
courage,
and
with success
encounter
my
most powerful adversaries.
I
will
not
fear,
says
David,
though thousands
have
set themselves
together
against
me,
if
thou
art
with
me, my
strength
and
my
rock:
I
will
walk
through the
valley
of
the shadow
of
death, and fear
no
evil,
Ps.
xxiii.
4.
for
thou
art
with me."
Divine courage and fortitude are increased
abundantly
by
coming
so
near
to the
throne of
God.-
There
is
a zeal
for
God enters into
the soul
at
such
a
season,
and
the soul
is
more desirous to
lay
out
itself
for
the
glory of God at
such
a
time. Moses had
drawn
near
to
God
in
the mount,
and
had been with
hirn
forty
days
;
when
.
he came down
from
the mount,
he beheld
the people
filled with
idolatry,
and
he
brake
the tables
of
stone
in
an impatience
of
zeal
;
his zeal for
God
was
so
great,
he
hardly
knew
what
he
did
;
his zeal
for
God
was
kindled
high,
because
he
had been
so
near
to
God,
and
just
conversing
with him.
So,
Isaiah
vi.
8.
when
that
great saint
had been
near
to
God, and
had seen
him
in the glories
of
his holiness,
and
had
some
courage and
confidence
in his love,
"
Now
I
will
go, says
he,
upon
any
difficult message
:
Here
am
I, send
me,
though
it
be
to
fulfil
the
hardest
service."
There
will be
generally
all
these
attendants of
great
nearness
to God,
viz.
power against temptation, strength
against
sin,
zeal
for the glory
of
God
in the
world,
and
ability
to
perform
difficult
duties.
V.
There
will
be
a
spiritual
frame
introduced
into
the
heart, and
a
distance
from
all
carnal
things.
"
Stand
by,
saith
the
soul, to all
this world, whilst
I
go to seek
my
God
;
but
when
I
have found
him,
then the
world
of
itself,
as
to
all
the temporal concerns
of
it,
vanishes
and goes
out
of
sight.
When
I
get
so
near to heaven,
this
earth
is
so
small
a
point,
that
it
cannot
be seen,
and
those
comforts among the creatures,
that
were
fair
as
the
maon, or bright
as
the larger
stars,
are
vanished
and
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