procedure in treating with those who come before it. A throne of grace is erected; the way is wide open; it is ever accessible; the golden sceptre of mercy is always held out, and the most positive commands, the warmest invitations, and the strongest encouragements are given to come boldly to this throne and talk with God. If then we consider ourselves ignorant, needing instruction and direction; guilty, and needing pardon; impure, and in need of cleansing; weak, and requiring strength; in a word, if we consider ourselves as creatures abounding in wants of that nature and magnitude, that number and variety that only a God can supply, there cannot be a more acceptable declaration than that given in the text. "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." We have in the textI. A DUTY ENJOINED.

II. AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO ITS PERFORMANCE GIVEN. I. A DUTY ENJOINED. "Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you." This supposes distance. Yet this is not a local distance; for "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" He is not far from every one of us, for in him we live, and move, and have our being. But the natural man is morally distant, and this distance consists in an opposition to the mind, law, and will of God. A want of conformity in our nature to the divine; in our lives to his law. This is being far from him by wicked works. The cause of this is not that the Lord's arm is shortened, that it cannot save: "But your iniquities," says the Prophet, "have separated between you and your God:" these have been the fatal instrument which has cut you off from him. Yet we ought to draw nigh by faith in the blood of Christ. But the drawing nigh, intended in the text, is the soul's approaches to God in acts of

religious worship; and this is a duty of universal obliga

tion, reaching to those who are nigh, compared with what they once were, as well as to those who are far off.

We draw nigh to God in the use of ordinances. These ordinances are of his own appointment. He appointed to the Jews legal and typical ordinances, and to us, who succeed them in his favour, gospel and spiritual ordinances. We are to search his word, as containing his own revealed will; to hear his gospel, and not to forget the assembling of ourselves together; by prayer, to raise our souls to him on the wings of desire, whether by the use of words or not; and by coming to his holy table receive him in the symbols of his love. But a description of the various ordinances and ways of drawing nigh to God is not so important or necessary as the manner and spirit in which the duty is to be performed. It behoves us to inquire with what disposition we ought to draw nigh to God, so that He may draw nigh to us. When we draw nigh to God in the use of any of his appointed means, we ought to do it with our minds powerfully impressed with the perfections, the nature and character of him whom we approach; and this impression of the Creator's perfections should produce in us, his creatures, corresponding dispositions. To explain our meaning

1. The God to whom we draw nigh is infinitely great.This we infer from the number and magnitude of his works which surpass calculation, and exceed all human comprehension. The Scriptures describe his greatness in the most lofty language, as stretching out the heavens, weighing the mountains in scales, taking up the isles as an atom, measuring the vast expanse of waters in the hollow of his hand, filling heaven and earth. And even these are too narrow to contain him, He inhabiteth eternity. The past which had no beginning, the future which will have no end, every point is inhabited by God. Now, how do we

feel when we approach a person of worldly rank and greatness? or how should we feel in the presence of earthly majesty? Are we light, trifling, or irreverent? No, we are serious and collected; a solemn awe hangs upon all our powers, and we dwindle in conscious inferiority. What then should we feel when we approach the Majesty of heaven and earth, the great Being who has given us breath and all things. What profound humility, what deep reverence, what self abasement, what holy shame, should characterize our approaches to him. And no attainment in grace should make us forget our natural distance from him; for though we have received a kingdom which cannot be moved, we must serve him with reverence and godly fear. And when God is thus seen, it cannot fail to impress the mind with its own littleness, and produce that humility and poverty of spirit which God will graciously regard.

2. The God to whom we draw nigh is an all seeing God.He not only fills all places, but sees all things. He knoweth our down sitting, and uprising, and understandeth our thoughts afar off. The darkness and the light are alike to him. Destruction and misery are before him without a covering, and He searcheth the heart. Every creature is manifested in his sight; for all things are naked, and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And hence He seeth, not as man seeth. He reads the heart, and requires truth in the inward parts. Now if our minds are deeply impressed with this truth, we shall know that He cannot be deceived by splendid professions; or imposed upon by grave faces, loud voices, or a number of fine words well arranged, that He must only regard words as they are the language of the heart. We shall not dare to draw nigh with our lips only, with minds unintent on our duty. But we shall be desirous of knowing ourselves

as we are known of him. The worst of our states, the greatest of our evils, the deepest of our wants. We shall confess and deplore with repentance; pray with desire; the mind will be fixed on God, who reads the heart; and every word and thought, desire and wish, will be seasoned with the salt of sincerity. And this will be produced by a due sense of his character.

3. The God to whom we are to draw nigh is immaculately pure. His nature and his name are holy, of which his law is a transcript. There are no two things in the universe, not even fire and water, more opposite in their nature one to the other than sin is opposed to God. How does He feel towards it? He cannot look upon it, it is so hateful in his sight. What does He say of it? It is the abominable thing which his soul hateth. What has it done? Separated from him his favourite creature man. How has He punished it? See it hurl angels from heaven; drive Adam from Paradise with a flaming sword; drown a world with water; burn Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, doom to eternal torments millions of men, and when the guilt was transferred to his own Son, He spared him not. If we indulge it, He will not receive us. If we but regard it in our hearts He will not hear us, for the Lord heareth not sinners. Now if we draw nigh with our minds impressed with this, will it be with transgression in our lives, a lie in our right hand; hugging secret sin to our soul, or rolling it under our tongue as a sweet morsel. No. We shall come out from the wicked; put away the accursed thing, cleanse our hands as sinners, wash our hands in innocency. Renouncing every evil work, desire, thought, and imagination against God, and all envy, ill will, and uncharitableness towards men. And hating sin above everything, we shall desire supremely to be saved from it. Thus the love of sin, which is the bar of separation being

removed, the creature shall find its God, and God receive his creature.

4. The God to whom we are to draw nigh is inflexibly just. We are all sinners, and have come short of the glory of God. We have broken the divine law, offended his purity. The law says, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Justice declares that the Lord will render to every man according to his works: and that though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished. We cannot pay the debt, nor atone for one crime, nor run away from the wrath of our offended God, nor can the whole creation save us. But there is a name, and only one, by which we can have access and salvation, even Jesus whom God hath set forth to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. In whom He can be just, and yet the justifier of him who believes upon him; pure, and yet cleanse the depraved. When Ahab the king desired an interview with Elijah the Prophet, he employed the influence and intercession of Jehoshaphat to obtain it. So the Lord says to every soul, had it not been for the merit of my Son, thou hadst never seen my face in grace, or glory. And surely, if we have our minds impressed with the justice of the Divine character, we shall not draw nigh in our own name and worthiness. Not trusting in our past innocence or goodness; in our present diligence or usefulness, nor in our genuine penitence, or repentant tears; but solely and confidentially in Christ, who is the only way, and truth, and life.

5. The God to whom we draw nigh is boundless in mercy. -This is the great name in which He has proclaimed himself before us. The Lord merciful and gracious. It is an attribute of his nature, and which He delights to display and glorify. To open a way for its full exercise, He has given his greatest and dearest gift. It is an ocean,