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Forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord....1 Cor. xv. 58.

CHRISTIAN knowledge is the source of comfort, and the spring of obedience. The knowledge of God's love to us in Christ, received into the heart by faith, animates us to be, and to do, what the Lord calls us to in our lives. Paul appeals to christians. YE KNOW....what? that you are called, not to loiter, but to labour : not to stand idle, but to work: not merely to talk of the truths of christianity, but to walk in the ways of the Lord. But O, sweetest of all labouring, working and walking, it is the labour of love, the work of faith, and the walk of hope; and we have Christ's presence and power in all. We know, we are fully persuaded, we are divinely assured our labour is not in vain; for it is in the Lord. It is begun by his grace, carried on by his power, IN sweet fellowship with him, IN love to him, in dependence on him, IN assurance that we are accepted IN him, and therefore IN an humble hope and loving desire to glorify him. Such a soul labours lawfully: his labour.is accepted: his work shall be crowned: he is blessed now by his Lord : he shall be blessed eternally with his Lord. The humble soul draws back the self-abased heart, jealous of his dear Lord's honor, cries, "Forbear, I am an unprofitable servant; I have no merit; I come short in all I do; my desert is hell; I claim nothing at my Lord's hand; I am a poor sinner, who must be infinitely and eternally indebted to the riches of free grace."

True, O soul, thou dost not work like free-will hirelings, for wages; yet, as a free-grace labourer, thou shalt have a free-grace reward; not of debt, due to thy merit, but of grace, by thy Lord's free promise; not a crumb of comfort, not a drop of cold water given in the name of Christ to one of his, but thy Lord notices in love, takes kindly at thy hand, and will never, never forget. O matchless love of Christ! he gives grace to miserable sinners, his grace works to will and to do in their hearts; and he rewards helldeserving sinners with gifts of grace in time and with the riches of glory in eternity. O blessed master! O precious labour! O joyful recompence of reward! Say, now, christian, is not here all encouragement to diligence and activity? O, go on labouring for thy Lord's glory; large wages seeking IN, not FOR thy works. Confidently mayest thou say, with Paul, "There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."....2 Tim. iv. 8.

I dare not work my soul to save,
That work my Lord hath done;
Yet I would work like any slave,
From love to God's dear Son.

No works of faith can be in vain,
Because they're wrought in love:
Since now our enmity is slain,
M.

We work for Christ above.

My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word....Psalm cxix. 81.

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DAVID'S words furnish us with these observations, 1st. That it is a sure evidence, that that sinner is savingly convinced of sin by the Spirit of God, when the salvation of Jesus is the desire of his heart. 2d. That the soul, though destitute of the joy of faith, in the assurance of interest in Christ's salvation, yet may have the grace of HOPE in lively exercise. 3d. That in fainting frames of soul, the word of the Lord is the sure support of hope. Study these points: settle them in your hearts: the Lord give comfort from them. When a person faints the blood returns to the heart; it ceaseth to flow through the veins: hence the spirits sink, nature fails, life and strength depart, the eyes see not, the hands cannot hold, the feet cannot walk. Have you not experienced it thus with your soul? Have you not found things at a very low ebb with you, just ready to give up all hope and let all confidence go, just at the last gasp? See the actings of a gracious soul. Learn experience by David's conduct: he thinks of his best friend, his dear Saviour; he looks up to him; he tells him what he faints for, THY SALVATION for fresh knowledge of interest in it; for the joys and comforts of it. What! When his sins stared him in the face? When his conscience was burdened with guilt? When his spirits failed him, his soul fainted within him, and without assurance in his heart of interest in Christ's salvation? Is this a time to go to Christ? Yes, the very time, the proper time, the time of NEED, in which we are exhorted to come boldly....Heb. iv. 16. O, my fainting fellow sinners! What a precious Saviour is Jesus! What a glorious salvation hath he finished for us! What a special mercy that the loving Spirit excites desires in our souls after the enjoyment of it! Well, though David's soul faints, yet, says he, I hope in thy word. What, without faith? No: he had living faith in his heart, though he fainted for the joy and comfort of faith: he believed the word of grace and salvation, and he hoped for the fulfilment of the promises of his Lord, to the reviving of his soul: he honors his Lord's word, trusts in his faithfulness, and casts the anchor of his hope upon his truth: go and do likewise; "for we are saved by hope."....Rom. viii. 24. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail, whither Jesus is for us entered."....Heb. vi. 19, 20.

My spirits sink, my heart doth faint, On that I daily will rely,

'Till thou my soul revive,

Thy peace bestow, thy presence grant, Thy word of truth can never die,

For thy salvation, Lord,

My hope is in thy word.

Therefore by faith I live.

M.

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Ye are risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God....Col. ii. 12.

WHO are risen with Christ? All the members of his mystical body he is their head and representative: they are all mystically risen with him; but they have no knowledge or comfort of this, till another resurrection is experienced by them: this is what the apostle here alludes to this is by faith. As soon as any poor sinner knows, understands and believes that Christ died for our offences, and was raised again for our justification, that soul is actually risen with Christ. Here behold, 1st. The preciousness of faith. 2d. Whose operation it is. 3d. The glorious effects it hath upon the heart and life it brings Christ into the soul. Faith causes the soul to ascend up to Christ. Thus, this living, powerful, influencing grace, which is the work of the Holy Ghost, is distinguished from a dead faith, a lifeless assent, a barren notion which floats in the heads of carnal professors. Examine yourselves: prove and try your faith this night. Is your faith from Christ above? Then it leads your hearts and affections from things below to Christ above. Be not deceived: take not up with a notion of faith in your head instead of the grace of faith in your heart: the former will leave you just where it found you, in your sins, with the love of the world reigning in your heart; the riches, honors, and pleasures of the world your idols and your pursuits; and yourself only a poor, cold-hearted, formal professor. O how many of this sort abound! They differ from the rest of the world only in notion and speculation; in tongue and doctrine. Lord Jesus, forbid that this should be our state! If we have the faith of the operation of God the Holy Ghost, our souls will be fired with the love of Christ, our hearts will burn with ardent love to him, his truths, his people and his cause: we shall delight to live above with him and long to reign eternally in his presence: we shall consider the body as our prison, overcome the world as our enemy, and treat all things with contempt in comparison of fellowship with our God and Saviour. If we are not at all times thus happy, at least we shall hunger and thirst after it. Risen souls are earnestly concerned to have gospel-doctrines brought into heart-experience and life-influence. O sun of righteousness, let us feel thy warm, enlivening beams upon our hearts, that we may not grow cold, formal and languid before thee: thee: is the power.

Then raise our low affections, Lord, Thus shall we know we're rais'd indeed To live above with thee:

Let formal frames be e'er abhorr'd:
Let us thy glory see.

From earth and hell and sin;
To live with thee our glorious head,
Whose love doth reign within. M.

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soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad....Psalm xxxiv. 2.

THERE was a poor, vain-glorious boaster, who had arrived to the summit of his happiness, and attained the zenith of his glory: the sun of prosperity shined with great splendor upon him; he bid adieu to all care: down he sat to solace himself; "Soul," said he, "thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry." But, awful moment! solemn speech! God said unto him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee."....Luke xii. 19, 20. O how many such fools are there, who think the soul can be made happy in outward ease, eating and drinking, and carnal enjoyments! Alas! one moment dashes the honey of their comforts into the gall of disappointment: not so that soul who boasts in the Lord. This was not a transient fit of David's, caused by a warm frame of the passions; for, says he, "I will bless the Lord at ALL TIMES: his praise shall be CONTINUALLY in my mouth." This is living indeed like a son of God and an heir of glory. Paul, like David, sets us the same example. Christ and free-grace, says Luther, was ever in his mouth: he never thought he could mention the precious name of Christ too often: he repeats it in every verse of the ten, of 1 Cor. i. If Christ is the boast and glory of our souls, his name will ever be uppermost in our hearts and upon our tongue. It was the martyr Lambert's motto, "Nene but Christ, none but Christ." It is said of one, that he seldom or ever mentioned the name Jesus without a tear. A martyr was judged to be dead, being burned as black as a coal in the fire, moved his scorched lips, and was heard to say, "Sweet Jesus," and fell asleep. These were all poor, needy sinners, like ourselves; they saw their want of Christ; they believed what he had done for them; and was to them; they gloried IN him and made him the boast of their souls. The humble are glad to hear of this: it delights their souls to hear the name of their Saviour boasted in, his sacrifice gloried of, his righteousness exalted, and his salvation the triumph of sinners; their hearts catch the sound, and with a glow of the fire of love they join the heavenly cry, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor, and glory, and blessing," &c.... Rev. v. 12. O how vastly different is this from self-exalting and self-boasting: but God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble....James iv. 6.

What tho' I am but filth and sin,

A wretch both vile and poor,
Yet I will boast of Christ my King,
My righteousness and store.

Jesu, who gave thyself for me,

Keep down my haughty pride:
Let all my glorying be of thee,
For I have nought beside.

M.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; (by grace ye are saved)....Eph. ii. 4. 5.

My dear brethren in Christ, and thou, O my soul, one chief reason why at any time we have so little comfort and are so low in joy is, we do not enough believe and live upon the love of God. Let us never think of, or look for any mercy from God, without considering that it flows from LOVE. Is God rich in mercy to any? It is because he loves them. Great love, everlasting, unchangeable love is the source and spring of rich mercy. It was rich mercy, for God to give us his beloved Son to be our Saviour in time. This was because of his great love to us before time: he loved us from eternity in his Son: he loves us invariably the same through time and under all states and circumstances: yea, when we were forlorn, hopeless, helpless, loathsome and desperate, even DEAD in SINS, he loved us with GREAT LOVE, too great to be conceived or expressed: he manifested it by bestowing RICH MERCY upon us; mercy, so rich, so free, so liberal, that it came to us unsought, unasked, undeserved. His great love for us was the parent of his rich mercy to us. Mercy without love may be exercised by an enemy; but the mercy of God flows from the loving heart of a father: he saw our souls dead in sin, dead under his law, dead to himself. Did he leave us? No. He loved us with great love, therefore in rich mercy he quickened us. Quickened us! is that all? A quickened soul, some think, is in a very inferior degree of grace; it is neither justified nor sanctified but such are great strangers to the rich mercy and great love of God; and they do not consider, that souls are quickened TOGETHER WITH CHRIST. There is the sweetness of quickening mercy enjoyed. Quickened souls see their sinfulness, know their poverty, feel their misery and wretchedness, and groan under a body of sin and death: but here is their glory, joy and comfort, they are one with Christ his life is theirs, his death is theirs, his righteousness is theirs, his holiness is theirs, his fulness is theirs. Though sin is not dead in us, yet being one with Christ, we are dead indeed unto sin and alive to God. BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED: neither you nor your works have the least hand in salvation. Therefore rejoice;

shall be saved: for

it is not precarious and uncertain whether you quickened souls may be as sure of it as if they were now before the throne. O, may love, mercy and grace, be the constant theme of our souls.

We'll sing rich mercy and great love, Then let us live like saints on earth,

To us so freely giv'n

By God our Father from above,

Whereby we're heirs of heav'n.

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