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And hath God ever showed himself either unfaithful or unmerciful to me?

To thee, O Lord, as to a faithful Creator, I commit my soul. (1 Pet. iv. 19.) I know that thou art the faithful God, who keepest covenant and mercy with them that love thee and keep thy command(Deut. vii. 9.) Thou art faithful who hast called me to the communion of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. i. 9.) Thy faithfulness hath saved me in and from temptation; (1 Cor. x. 13;) it hath stablished me, and kept me from prevailing evil; (2 Thess. iii. 3;) and it will keep my spirit, soul, and body to the coming of Christ. (1 Thess. v. 23, 24.) It is in faithfulness that thou hast afflicted me; (Psalm cxix. 75;) and shall I not trust thee, then, to save me? It is thy faithful word, that all thine elect shall obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory; and if we be dead with him, shall live with him, and if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. (2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.)

To thee, O my Savior, I commit my soul: it is thine own by redemption; it is thine own by covenant; it is marked and sealed by thy Spirit as thine own, and thou hast promised not to lose it. (John vi. 39.) Thou wast made like us thy brethren, that thou mightest be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for our sins. By thy blood we have boldness to enter into the holiest, even by the new and living consecrated way. Cause me to draw near with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, by thee that art the High Priest over the house of God; for he is faithful that has promised life through thee. (Heb. x. 20-23.) Thy name is faithful and true, (Rev. xix. 11,) and faithful and true are all thy promises. (Rev. xxii. 6, and xxi. 5.) Thou hast promised rest to weary souls that come to thee. (Matt. xi. 28; 2 Thess. i. 7.) I am weary of suffering, and weary of sin; weary of my flesh, and weary of my darkness, and dulness, and distance, and of this wicked, blind, unrighteous, and confounded world: and whither should I look for rest but home to my heavenly Father and to thee? I am but a bruised reed, but thou wilt not break me; I am but a smoaking flax, but thou wilt not quench what thy grace hath kindled; but thou, in whose name the nations trust, wilt bring forth judgment unto vic

tory. (Matt. xii. 20, 21.) The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants, and none of them that trust in thee shall be desolate. (Psalm xxxiv. 22.) Therefore will I wait on thy name, for it is good, and will trust in the mercy of God for ever. (Psalm lii. 8, 9.) The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. (Nahum i. 7.) Sinful fear is a snare; but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be set on high. (Prov. xxix. 25.) Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, and such as turn aside to lies. (Psalm xl. 4.) Thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb, and my praise shall be continually of thee. Cast me not off now in the time of age. Forsake me not when my strength faileth; O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now, also, when I am old and grey, O God, forsake me not. (Psalm xvii. 5, 6, 9, 17, 18.) Leave not my soul destifor mine eyes are toward thee, and my trust is in thee. (Psalm xiv. 8.) I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; even where they that live shall die no more. The sun may cease to shine on man, and the earth to bear us; but God will never cease to be love, nor to be faithful in his promises. Blessed be the Lord, who hath commanded me so safe and quieting a duty as to trust him, and cast all my cares on him, as on one that has promised to care for me!

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II. And blessed be God, who hath made it my duty to hope for his salvation. Hope is the ease, yea, the life of our hearts, that else would break, yea, die within us: despair is no small part of hell: God cherisheth hope as he is the lover of souls. Satan, our enemy, cherisheth despair, when his way of blind presumption faileth. As fear is a foretaste of evil, before it is felt: so hope doth anticipate, and foretaste salvation, before it is possessed. It is then worldly hypocrites' hope that perisheth; for all that hope for true or durable happiness on the earth, in the pleasures of this perishing flesh, must needs be deceived. But happy is he who hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, which keepeth truth for ever. (Psalm cxlvi. 5, 6.) Wo to

me, were my hope only in the time and matters of this fleshly life; (1 Cor. xv. 19;) but the righteous hath hope in his death; (Prov. xiv. 32;) and hope maketh not ashamed. (Rom. v. 5.) Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. (Jer. xvii. 7.) Lay hold then, O my soul, upon the hope which is set before thee; (Heb. vi. 18;) it is thy firm and steadfast anchor, (ver. 19,) without it thou wilt be as a shipwrecked vessel. Thy foundation is sure; it is God himself; our faith and hope are both in God. (1 Pet. i. 21.) It is Jesus our Lord who is risen from the dead, and reigneth in glory, Lord of all. (1 Tim. i. 1.) Yea, it is the Christ, who by faith doth dwell within us, who is our hope of glory. (Eph. iii. 17; Col. i. 27.) In this hope, which is better than the law that Moses gave, it is that we draw nigh to God; (Heb. vii. 19;) it is the Holy Ghost, that is both our evidence, and the efficient of our hope. (Gal. v. 5; Rom. viii. 16, 23.) By him we hope for that which we see not, and therefore wait in patience for it; (ver. 24, 25;) by hope are we saved. It is an encouraging grace which will make us stir, when as despair doth kill endeavors; it cureth sloth, and makes us diligent and constant to the end, and by this doth help us to full assurance. (Heb. vi. 11, 12.) It is a desiring grace, and would fain obtain the glory hoped for. It is a quieting and comforting grace. (Rom. xv. 4.) The God of hope doth fill us with joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Ver. 13.) Shake off despondency, O my soul, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom. v. 2.) Believe in hope, though dying flesh would tell thee that it is against hope. (Rom. iv. 18.) God, that cannot lie, hath confirmed his covenant by his immutable oath, that we might have strong consolation who are fled for refuge to the hope which is set before us. (Heb. vi. 18.) What blessed preparations are made for our hope; and shall we now let the tempter shake it, or discourage it? The abundant mercy of God the Father hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection or Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. (1 Pet. i. 3.) Grace teacheth us to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world, as looking for that blessed hope,

and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior. (Tit. ii. 12, 13.) We are renewed by the Holy Ghost, and justified by grace, that we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Tit. iii. 6, 7.) We are illuminated, that we may know the hope of Christ's calling, and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. (Eph. i. 18, 19.) The hope that is laid up for us in heaven, is the chief doctrine of the gospel, which bringeth light and immortality into clearer light. (Col. i. 5; 2 Tim. i. 10.) It is for this hope that we keep a conscience void of offence, and that God is served in the world; (Acts xxiv. 15, 16, and xxvi. 7;) wherefore gird up the loins of thy mind; put on this helmet, the hope of salvation; (1 Thess. v. 8;) and let not death seem to thee as it doth to them that have no hope. (1 Thess. iv. 13.) The love of our Father, and our Savior, have given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace, to comfort our hearts, and establish them in every good word and work. (2 Thess. ii. 16, 17.) Keep, therefore, the rejoicing of hope, firm to the end. (Heb. iii. 6.) Continue grounded and settled in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (Col. i. 23; 1 Pet. i. 13.) And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. (Psalm. xxxix. 7.) Uphold me according to thy word, that I may live; and let me not be ashamed of my hope. (Psalm cxix. 116.) Though mine iniquities testify against me, yet, O thou that art the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in the time of trouble, be not as a stranger to my soul. (Jer. xiv. 7, 8.) Thy name is called upon by me, oh, forsake me not! (Ver. 9.) Why have our eyes beheld thy wonders, and why have we had thy covenant, and thy mercies, but that we might set our hope in God. (Psalm lxxviiii. 5, 7.) Remember the word to thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. (Psalm cxix. 49.) If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord; my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope; I will hope in the Lord, for with him there is mercy and plenteous redemption. (Psalm cxxx. 3-5, 7.). For he taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. (Psalm cxlvii. 11.) Though flesh and heart fail, the Lord

is the rock of my heart; he is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good to them that wait for him; to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that I should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for me that I have borne the yoke in my youth, and that I keep silence, and put my mouth in the dust as if so be there may be hope. (Psalm lxxiii. 26; Lam. iii. 24-27, 29.)

God need not flatter such worms as we, nor promise us that which he never meaneth to perform. He hath laid the rudiments of our hope, in a nature capable of desiring, seeking, and thinking of another life: he hath called me by grace, to actual desires and endeavors; and some foretaste he hath vouchsafed. I look for no heaven, but the perfection of divine life, light, and love, in endless glory with Christ and his holy ones. And this he hath begun in me already; and shall I not boldly hope when I have the capacity, the promise, and the earnest and foretaste? Is it not God himself that has caused me to hope? Was not nature, promise, and grace from him? And can a soul miscarry, and be deceived, that departeth hence in a hope of God's own causing, and encouraging? Lord, I have lived in hope, I have prayed in hope, I have labored, suffered, and waited in hope; and, by thy grace, I will die in hope. And is not this according to thy word and will? And wilt thou cast away a soul that hopeth in thee, by thine own command and operation? Had wealth and honor, or continuance on earth, or the favor of man, been my reward and hope, my hope and I had died together. Were this our best, how vain were man! But the Lord liveth, and my Redeemer is glorified, and intercedeth for me; and the same Spirit is in heaven, who is in my heart, (as the same sun is in the firmament which is in my house,) and the promise is sure to all Christ's seed. And millions are now in heaven, that once did live and die in hope; they were sinners once, as now I am; they had no other Savior, no other Sanctifier, no other promise, than I now have; confessing that they were strangers here, they looked for a better country, and for a city that had foundations, even a heavenly, where now they are: and shall I not follow them in hope that have sped so well? Hope then, O my soul unto the end. (1 Pet. i. 13.) From henceforth, and for

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