SECTION V. 367 myself beyond the reach of them all, I was sending myself into a world where there is no gospel, no promises, no prayer, no word of salvation, no beam of mercy. For ever adored be the compassion of my God, that over- ruled all my wicked thoughts, and at last gave me victory over this dreadful tempta- tion ! And blessed of the Lord be those relatives, those friends, that were the happy instruments in the hand of God to break this fatal snare !" 'Then think of the weighty obligations that lie on you to love and serve the Lord with all your powers. Say, " What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits ?" Ps. cxvi. l4. " He hath delivered me from, the gates of the grave when Iwas just ready to leap into it, while the gates of hell stood open to receive my sold He is indeed the God of my life, for be has not only given me life at first, and preserved it by the common bounty of his providence, but he has rescued my life out of the hands of the tempter when he would have persuaded me to de- stroy it. O may every moment of this rescued life be some way or other devoted to his fear and honour ? Lord, what wilt thou bave me do, to make it manifest that I am entirely thine? I would fain shew to my friends who were acquainted with may dreadful danger, that the vows and the bonds of God are strong upots me, and that this deliverancewas not bestowed on me in Bats." IV. At some special seasons make an enquiry what you have done for God, or for the welfare of your own soul since your deliverance. In the successive course of time, when a new year begins, or when you take notice of your returning birth-day, or when the annual season of this deliverance returns, which is like another birth-day, or a new beginning of life, ask your con- science this solemn question, " Have I improved my moments and my mercies answerable to the infinite obligations I lie under ? It may be you had done little for the honour of God iu the world before that time; what have you done since? It may be you had .never been diligent to make your calling and election sure before ; and are they now made sure ? Enquire of your own souls and say, " Some months or years are past since the Lord has recovered me from the most pernicious snare of the tempter, and do I still continue his slave in another form, bound in the chains of my own lusts and passions ? Surely 1 was at that time very unfit to die ; have I now attained a greater fitness ?" Perhaps you had then acquired but little acquaintance with the grace of Christ, with experimental religion and practical godliness : And are you still a stranger to Christ, a stranger to the pleasure of secret religion, and to holiness in the power and life of it ? You stood in that day on the veryborders of hell and destruction, the God of mercy secured you from the pit : Is
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