DISCOURSEVII. Oil to raise the most sprightly affections. I have done it, 'OLord, and yet I feel my heart too little warmed and raised ! t But I would repeat the holy work ; it is all duty, and it should be all delight : I would repeat it, till I find the sacred fire kindle and glowwithin. I would run over again that vast and extensive field , of wonders : Again, let me survey the sublime glories of thy majesty, thy power, thy wisdom, thy goodness,all unsearch- able and all infinite. I.would dwell upon them till I am lost in this boundless ocean of godhead; and swallowed up in adoration and wonder. Then would I recall my past days of life, and bring past years back to my remembrance. With a sacred so- lemnity would I revolve in my heart the multitudeof my trans- gressions, and the multitude of divine mercies, till my soul be melted into repentance and love : There is an unknown pleasure in the tears of pious love and holy mourning. I would read the astonishing history of the love of Christ, and trace the divine path of it down from his Father's bosom to his state of infancy, to the manger, and the stableat Bethlehem : I would follow this golden track of love, through the weaknesses, the fatigues, and sorrows of a life of poverty and reproach: I would traceit on the midnight mountains of prayer, and through the solitary wilder- ness, the stage of his sore temptations : I follow the shining thread of this unwearied love, till it brought him to sustain un- known agonies in the garden, and nailed him to the cursed tree : I behold him there groaning and expiring under the weight of my sins : Amazingspectacle ! What will awaken devout passion, if such varied scenes of divine love and divine sorrow cannot do it? " Let me borrow those blessed patterns of warm and living devotion, which David has left us, and tune the songs of Zion to the name of Jesus : The sweetest songs, and the sweetest name will happily unite and increase the divine harmony,. O when shall I feel the ardent desires, the penitent sorrows, the holy wishes, and pious elevated joys of the ancient Psalmist ? O for the return of the same Spirit that gave the sand and the harp of David, these sacred and immortal elevations ! When I find a divine influence reaching my heart, and raising a devout passion there, I would hold fast and cherish the heavenly sun-beam, till I feel the holy warmth diffused through all my powers : Nor would I willingly stiffer the tides of business or care in this world to quench the spark which was kindled from above. " I would keep up the savour of divine things among thecommon affairs of this life. A present God in the midst of the labours of this .. world, will sweeten and sanctify them all and bring heaven,down to earth. " Suffer me not, Omy God, to bury all my religion within me. Let my tongue communicate some of the wonders of thy
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