ftt ON EXCITING THE DEVOUT AFFECTIONS. vas Israel, and sometimes over the heathen nations, by an angry God, in the writings of Moses, and the -book of Judges. Read the soft and melting language of divine mer- cy, inviting sinners to return to God by Isaiah, the evangelic prophet. Survey the promises that are big with blessings, that contain pardon, and righteousness, and grace, and life, and sal- vation, and glory in them ; and let the pious affections of hope and love break out and diffuse themselves with sweet delight. Read the history of the life and death of our blessed Lord, which is made up of love and wonders, and look into some of the more affectionate paragraphs of Si. Paul, and the pathetic parts of all the sacred epistles. But above all, for this purpose, I must remember the spe-- cimensof divine meditation,and divine worship, the complaints, the supplications, and the songs of praise which are offered to God, by holy men in theOld Testament, and in the New. You find some of these in the books of Moses, Ezra, Job, Daniel, and other prophets ; especially, the Psalms of David : A rich and heavenly treasureis this. A repository, or an altar of sacred fire. Tile people of God, in all succeedingages, have had recourse to it both as an example and a spring of most lively and exalted, devotions. Chose a psalm suited to your own case, and frame and temper ; compare your hearts with the Psalmist, and your circumstances with his ; lift up your souls to God in the words of David, or imitate his language, where his words do not so per- fectly express your case. Enter into his spirit, form and model your pious affections by that illustrious pattern ; andbe sure to bring Christ and the sweet discoveries ofgrace, and the blessings of thegospel into this sort of devotion. David himself; under the influence of the holy Spirit, practised this ; though in a more obscure manner, and in the stile of prophecy: And if in the midst of such a dark dispensation, surrounded with types and shadows, we find surprising efforts of fear and love, of joy and wonder, of desireandhope, offaith and adoration, and praise, how unspeak- ably glorious and entertainingwould it be to us, ifwe lied abook of such holy melody, such harmonious worship, written by divine in- fluence in the language ofChrist and hisgospel, interlined withthe blood of the Son of God, adorned and enlivened with the grace and glory of a rising and reigning Saviour, and animated and enriched with the holy Spirit, and the blessings of the New Tes- tament ? Perhaps, this is too sublime a privilege, too high a favour'for the churchto expect or enjoyin this corrupted and dege- nerate state : Perhaps we must wait for such a seraphic volume, till we are raised to join the songsand the harps ofthe heavenly Jerusalem ; or at least till the happy time of the restitution ofall things, when anew heaven and a new earth shall introduce such a state of things among men, as shall be near a-kin to the gloryof the upper world.
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