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afmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me !" let us carry this confideration always in our view, and endeavour to affect our minds with a lively and vigourous fenfe of it. We are apt fometimes to with that it had been our lot, to live and converse with Chrift, to hear his divine difcourfes, and to obferve his fpotlefs behaviour; and we please ourselves perhaps with thinking, how ready a reception we should have given to him and his doctrine how forward we fhould have been in doing all public honours and private fervices, and in abounding in all the offices of humanity towards him. The opportunity we wish for, we have: For, behold, he is "with us to the end of the world," in the perfons of the poor and miferable. They are his reprefentatives, his fubftitutes; deputed by him to receive our bounty in his name and in his name and in his ftead: And we may rest affured (for "he is faithful who promif ed") that comforts and fupports, which we extend to these his poor brethren, fhall be as kindly received, as highly valued, as mightily rewarded, as if he himself had been the object of our pious liberallity; and that we fhall, on this account, be found, at the day of retribution, among thofe at his right-hand, to whom he will fay; come, ye bleffed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a ftranger, and ye took me in; Naked, and ye cloathed me; I was fick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

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God

God grant, that every one of us may, by thus fhewing mercy, entitle ourselves to the mercy of . Jefus !

To him, with the Father, and bleffed Spirit, be rendred all majefty, might, and dominion for ever! Amen,

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An Acquaintance with Gon, the best Support under Afflictions.

JOB xxii. 21.

Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.

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HE exceeding corruption and folly of man is in nothing more manifeft, than in his averfeness to entertain any friendship or familiarity with God; though he was framed for that very end, and endued with faculties fitting to attain it; tho' he ftands, and cannot but be fenfible that he ftands, in the utmost want of it s tho' he be invited, and encouraged to it, freVol. II. quently,

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quently, and earnestly, by God himself; and tho' it be his chief honour, advantage, and happiness, as well as his duty, to comply with those invitations.

In all cafes, where the body is affected with pain or fickness, we are forward enough to look out for remedies, to liften greedily to every one that fuggests them, and, upon the leaft hopes of fuccefs from the reports of others, immediately to apply them. And yet, notwithstanding that we find and feel our fouls difordered and reftlefs, toffed and difquieted by various paffions, distracted between contrary ends and interefts, ever feeking happiness in the enjoyments of this world, and ever niffing what they feek; notwithstanding that we are affured from other men's experience, and from our own inward convictions, that the only way of regulating thefe diforders is, to call off our minds from too close an attention to the things of fenfe, and to employ them often in a fweet intercourfe of our Maker, the author of our being, and fountain of all our cafe and happinefs: yet are we ftrangely backward to lay hold of this fafe, this only method of cure: We go on still nourishing the diftemper under which we groan, and choofe rather to feel the pain than to apply the remedy. Excellent, therefore, was the advice of Eliphaz to Job, when, in the midst of his great troubles and preffures, he thus bespoke him, "Acquaint thyself now with Him" (i. e.) with God," and be at peace:" Take this opportunity of improving thy acquaintance with God, to which he always, but now efpecially, invites thee; Make the true ufe of thofe afflictions which

his hand, mercifully fevere, hath been pleased to lay upon thee; and be led by the means of them, tho' thou haft endeavoured to know and ferve him already, to know and ferve him ftill better; to defire and love him more: Calm the disorders of thy mind by reflexions on his paternal goodness and tenderness; on the wisdom, and equity, and abfolute rectitude of all his proceedings: Comfort thyfelf with such thoughts at all times, but chiefly at that time, when all earthly comforts fail thee; Then do thou particularly retreat to these confiderations, and fhelter thyfelf under them;"Acquaint now thyfelf with him, and be at "peace."

The words therefore will fuggeft matter not unfit for our devout meditation, under the three following heads; wherein I fhall confider,

I. What this fcripture-phrafe of "acquainting "ourselves with God" implies, and wherein the duty recommended by it particularly confists.

II. How reasonable, neceffary, and defirable a duty it is, as on many other accounts, so especially on this, That it is the only true way towards attaining a perfect tranquillity and rest of mind,

"Acquaint thyfelf with Him, AND BE AT "PEACE." Which will lead me alfo to fhew, in the

IIId Place, That the moft proper season for fuch a religious exercise of our thoughts is, when any trouble or calamity overtakes," Acquaint "thyfelf NOW with Him."

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