IV. To a practical improvement of the subject, in an use of exhortation.

Let us, then, draw near to God. Return, finners, and come back to God, ye who have gone away from him; and having come back, come forward to him in Christ, come forward even to his feat; the nearer you come the better, and always the nearer the more welcome.

Come back, finners, draw near towards God and duty. What have you gained by going from him? Satan, the world, and lufts, made you fair promises to get you away from God. But what have you made of your rambling, wandering life through the mountains of vanity? You have got a restleffness in your hearts, a blindness in your minds, a deadness in your affections to what is good. You have got your lufts ftrengthened, and a confcience full of guilt and ftings, when you feriously reflect. Our Lord is ready to take runaways home again: Jer. iii. 1. "Return again to me, faith the Lord." Ver. 22. " Return, ye backfliding children, and I will heal your backflidings. Behold, we come unto me, for thou art the Lord our God." He is again cafting open the doors of his house to receive backfliders; nay, his arms of love and mercy are ready to receive you. Come back, then, fmiting on your breaft, as grieved for that backfliding heart of yours; fmiting on your thigh, as grieved at thofe wandering feet of yours, which have not continued in the paths of righteoufnefs.

2. Not only draw towards God, but come forward, and draw near to him as a God in Christ. You may get near him ere you come to heaven; in his ordinances in the lower house, there you may have access to him. Particularly, let us draw near him,

In prayer: Heb. iv. 16. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." This fhould be a praying time with us, a time of wrestling for the bleffing. It may be you have not neglected the form of prayer; but though God was near you in your mouth, yet perhaps he was far from your reins. But pray now, and draw near in prayer, prefs forward even unto his feat, with the arms of faith and love. Many have got very near him in that exercise; they have broke the fhell on which many gnaw all their days, while they are never the better, and they have got into the kernel; like Jacob, they have fucceeded: "He had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made fupplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us."

Draw near in the holy facrament of the fupper. God is again coming to us in that ordinance; an ordinance appointed for the most special nearness out of heaven: 1 Cor. x. 16. "The cup of bleffing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Chrift? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Chrift?" Here we may facramentally touch his precious body and blood, and feed upon it. Oh! let us be fure to meet him there; he will not break the appointment. Let us draw near, draw by the vail with the hand of faith; whatever be betwixt him and us, let us clofely unite with God in his Son, and come even to his feat, come forward, for we will be welcome. But if we abide in the outward court, contenting ourselves with the bare elements, better we fit not down at this table.-Let us draw near in these ordinances,

1. As rebels accepting the King's peace, in

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demnity

demnity in the blood of his Son; draw near, and welcome: Ifa. xxvii. 5. "Let him take hold of my ftrength, that he may make peace with me; and he fhall make peace with me." He holds forth the golden fceptre to thee, though thou defervedft the iron rod. Start not back by unbelief. If it be too much for thee to expect when thou lookeft to thyself, it is not too much for him to give; for he is infinite in goodness, and the blood of Chrift purchased it for the undeferving; and the price of blood will not be kept back. Then, let us draw yet nearer,

2. As petitioners to the King. While God fits on the throne of his grace, he fays to all who have accepted his peace, as Ahafuerus did to Efther, "What is thy petition, and it fhall be granted thee?" Let us not, then, flight the feafon of petitioning. Be fenfible of your foul-wants; labour to get defires of supply wrought in your hearts by the Spirit of Chrift. And draw near with your petitions as particular as you can make them. Come, and welcome; though there be blots in them, they will be accepted out of the Mediator's hand. Nay more,

3. Draw near as fervants of the house, to serve our Lord, to wait upon him, and behold his glory: Pfal. cxvi. 16. "O Lord, truly I am thy fervant; I am thy fervant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou haft loosed my bonds," Rev. xxii. 3. "And his fervants fhall ferve him. And they fhall fee his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads." Though our ragged garments are very unlike our Mafter's honour, yet he allows us a livery in which to appear, of which we need not be afhamed, and which will cover all our filthy rags. He gives us white raiment, that we may be clothed, that the fhame of our nakedness do not appear, Rev.

iii. 18. Lay this over thy foul, wrap thyfelf in it, come thus forward, and welcome.-Draw near,

4. As friends; friends of God, to have fellowship with him, who may freely converfe with him; to unbofom ourselves to him, and to be let into the secrets of the covenant: John, xv. 15. "Henceforth," fays he, "I call you not fervants, for the fervant knoweth not what his Lord doth; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." He treats you as fuch, fetting you down at his table; and the lefs reserved you are, and the more you improve the privileges through Chrift, the more welcome you are. Does he approve the kneelers at the facrament, when he has ordered them to fit? as little will he approve the Chriftian's carrying frowardlike, and standing afar off from him at that table which he has covered for his friends. Nay, draw

near,

5. As children to a Father in Christ, to receive the portion of children. Is not the foul which hath clofed with Chrift a fon by adoption? "To as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the fons of God, even to them that believe on his name." A child of the house by marriage with the King's fon. Is not the chil dren's bread given them at the table? Believe, then, and fay to God in Christ," Abba, Father." If he did not love the compellation from those that are his, his Spirit would not put it into their mouths, Rom. viii. 15.-Draw near,

Laftly, As a fpoufe to an Hufband, for our Maker is our Hufband. Let us embrace him in the arms of faith, give the love of the heart to him a full vent: Song, viii. 6. "Set me as a feal upon thine heart, as a feal upon thine arm; love is ftrong as death; jealoufy is cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which

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hath

hath a most vehement flame." Rejoice in him, delight in him, and blefs ourselves in our choice of him. The facrament of the fupper is appointed for that very end, that we may unite more closely with him, have more intimate fellowship with our Lord, and may joy in the bleffed Hufband, while at the feaft of efpoufals. Think not ftrange of drawing near at this rate; for, if ever we come to heaven to be happy, we will be nearer than all this, nearer God than we can now conceive. The blood of God will be close cement betwixt God and his own creatures; and this is the only way of our nearness.

But how muft the business of our drawing near to God be managed? The apoftle here lays down four directions.

(1.) Draw near to God fincerely. Hypocrify is a disease in the vitals of religion; it pretends one thing, and intends another. The tongue and external behaviour in gofpel-ordinances are no true interpreters of the hypocrite's mind. Beware of this: Matth. xv. 8. "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." If you be to take Chrift, let those go away. If you join hands with him in this ordinance, join heart with him alfo. Seek out your fins impartially, and fee if you be willing to part with them without exception: Pfal. lxvi. 18. « If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Confider and deliberate on the cost of the covenant, and fee if there be nothing at which your heart ftands. Confider if you be for Chrift and his falvation, for his fanctifying Spirit, as well as his justifying blood. If it be thus, you may warrantably come forward, even to his feat; but if otherwife, you will never get near to him.;