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"He receiveth.' Were we "without chastise"ment whereof all are partakers, we should be "bastards and not sons." And as inward affliction is necessary for our profit, that we may "become partakers of His holiness so is temptation also. For as the approach of an earthly enemy drives the straggling soldiers into their garrison, so the assaults of our spiritual enemies add speed to the pace of those who are flying for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel. How precious is Christ to the tempted soul!" The name of the Lord is a strong tower; "the righteous," in the time of trial, "runneth " into it and is safe." Since our heavenly Father sees it right to permit us to remain in a state of trial, we must not pray to be taken out of it, but to be preserved from the evil,* that we may be enabled by His grace to bear the afflictions He lays on us to His glory and our own advantage; and that, when the enemy cometh in "like a flood," threatening to overwhelm us, "the Spirit of the Lord may lift up a standard "against him."

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We pray for exemption not only from danger, but also from the distressing apprehension of it, even that we may not fear the power of any "adversaries." For, since their power is great, we should spend our days in anxious dread, had we no assurance of safety from above. Surely those persons who have never trembled at a review of the hostile band, are in a dead stupor, like Jonah, who was asleep in the sides of the ship, when every other heart shook with horror. The believer, who knows by experience their rage, subtilty, and malice, will pray for deliverance from that "fear which hath torment,"

*John xvii. 15.

lest his mind should be so enervated by its bane-. ful influence as to be incapable of fighting "the good fight of faith;" and lest those days. should be employed in groundless apprehensions, which should be filled up in communion with God and in obedience to His will And, as it is only through faith that deliverance from evil and from the fear of it can be experienced, thes soldiers of Christ make it the subject of their earnest request that their faith may be strengthened; that they may be enabled "surely to "trust in God's defence." It can only be through God's defence, that we are for a moment safe from ruin: and it can only be in proportion to our faith in His protection that we are for a moment exempt from fear. When David went forth against Goliah, had he considered his own weak and unarmed condition, he must have trembled at the prospect of the unequal contest. But faith excluded fear from his bosom. "Thou comest to me" (says the faithful stripling to the vaunting champion of Philistia) "with a sword, and with a spear, and with a "shield; but I come to thee in the name of the "Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, "whom thou hast defied." The issue of the combat is well known. "So let all Thine ene"mies perish, O Lord; but let them that love "Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in "his might!"*

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The great object of faith, as recommended to us in this collect, is "the might of Jesus Christ our Lord." For He, the once despised Na zarene, is "the mighty God." This is our consolation, that greater is He that is for us

* Judges v. 31. Is. ix. 6.

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We pray for exemption not only fro but also from the distressing apprehe even “tliat we may not fear the pow "adversaries." For, since their power we should spend our days in anxious dr we no assurance of safety from above. those persons who have never tremble review of the hostile band, are in a dead like Jonah, who was asleep in the sides ship, when every other heart shook with The believer, who knows by experience rage, subtilty, and malice, will pray for verance from that "fear which hath torm

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"portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His "inheritance. He found him in a desert land, "and in the waste howling wilderness:" and with respect to each of them, "He leads him "about, He instructs him, He keeps him "as the apple of His eye, As an eagle stirreth

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up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spread"eth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth "them on her wings; so the Lord alone leads, “defends, and saves" those, who "trust in His "defence, through the might of Jesus Christ "our Lord." So that each individual of His little flock may adopt the Apostle's triumphant exclamation, and say, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is "God that justifieth; who is he that con"demneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather "that is risen again, who is even at the right "hand of God, who also maketh intercession - for us. Who shall separate us from the love "of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or "persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are "more than conquerors through Him that loved For I am persuaded that neither death "nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor "powers, nor things present, nor things to "come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other "creature, shall be able to separate us from the "love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."*.3

❝ us.

"setur res omnium carissima, cui conservandæ quisque "summo studio invigilat: quæ causa est, quod ubi cura "tenerrimi amoris, quo Deus populum suum prosequitur, "& studium ejus protegendi ac præservandi, Scriptura hac utatur phrasi, qua hoc in loco Moses, Ps. xvii. 8, Zach "ii, 8." Vitringæ Commentarius ad Canticum Mosis. *Rom. viii. 33.-39.

ESSAY VIII.

On the Third Collect at Morning Service, for.·

VAL

Grace.

ARIOUS are the acceptations of the word GRACE in the sacred pages. In its primary and general sense, it signifies the favour of God. This is the perennial fountain, or rather the boundless ocean, from: which every stream of blessedness flows, whether to angels and saints made perfect in heaven, or to sinners on earth. Sometimes the various traits of the Christian, character are intended by this term, such as faith, hope, love, and patience, because these are rivulets flowing from the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. In other places we must thereby understand that ability which God communicates to His believing people for the performance of the several functions of the Divine life. Our life springs from the grace of God, and every act of that spiritual life proceeds from a continued communication of power from Him, so that our works can only be spiritual in their rise, progress, and accomplishment, so far as they are "begun, continued, and ended in "Him." In this latter sense our church uses this important word in the rubric that precedes the third collect at morning service, wherein she teaches us to pray for supplies of grace in the following excellent words.

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