CONCLUDING ASPIRATIONS. Amen. Hallelujah to God the Father, for having loved us, and given us his Son ! Hallelujah to the Son of love, the child of his Father's bosom, to the dear Immanuel, who has not despised us, but has deigned to visit us poor mortals with the radiance of his glory, and with the rays of his loving kindness! Hallelujah to the Holy Spirit, and may he glorify Jesus Christ in all our hearts, that we may praise and glorify thee, our God, thee the Holy Trinity, to all eternity, for the wondrous love thou manifestest towards us the poor children of men! O Jesus Christ, thou Son of God at the right hand of the Father, lift up thy priestly hands from thy sanctuary, and give us thy blessing. Powerfully say unto my heart, and unto the hearts of all us, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace!" THE NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST. May the sluices of divine mercy and love to man, which opened themselves so widely in the incarnation and birth of our dearest Saviour to the children of men, be extended unto us poor sinners, in grace and blessing, now and in the hour of death! Amen. Beloved friends, notwithstanding I have suffered much from weakness, during the night, yet still I feel myself inclined and impelled, according to my promise of yesterday, to meditate with you upon the remainder of the words of the text I then discoursed upon, and refresh myself with you, at this table of the Lord. Nothing more is requisite in the matter, than that we believe a little more, and that we turn to God a little more cordially, in order to expect grace and blessing from him, and not from men. Let us therefore, first of all, incite our hearts to this, by singing a few verses of a hymn, and then elevate our hearts to God in prayer. PRAYER. Adoration, love, praise, and thanksgiving, be ascribed unto thee, thou ever-blessed and only-be gotten Son of the Most High God, who, from love to us, didst become a poor child in the manger at Bethlehem! Be thou magnified by all that we have and are, for thine incomprehensible love and condescension! O deign to grant us more and more of the knowledge of thee and of thy divine love! O Lord Jesus! we hear and speak, and sing, and read, at this season, so much of thee, of thy love, and of thy condescension and birth; but ah! how little art thou still known, even amongst those, who are called Christians after thy name! O how little art thou sought, recognized, honoured, loved, and found in the hearts of men! O dearest Immanuel, suffer us not, suffer not our needy hearts, as we are here present before thy face, on this last day of the feast, suffer us not to go away hungry; let us not be sent empty away from this Christian festival, but be visited, refreshed, blest, and edified by thee in our hearts! Jesu! thou wast wont, in the days of thy flesh, to seize gladly every opportunity, in order to gain admittance to the hearts of men, and offer thyself to them; on Sabbath days and feast days, thou didst appear in the synagogue and in the temple. O Lord Jesus! do thou therefore seize this opportunity, and the present time, that it may be to us a season of grace and salvation. Behold, here is also an assembly of immortal souls, whom thou hast so dearly purchased with thy blood; souls, for whose sake, thou didst forsake thy glory, and didst appear in such lowliness. O Jesu! manifest thyself therefore in a lively manner; manifest Mir de ses of divine mercy and loy wees so widely in the rest Saviour to the dus pour sinners, in sing and in the hour of death! Bored Sas withstanding I ha awess, diving the night, yet s Fed and impelled, according sted, to mediate with you de of the text I then myself with you, atte Noting me is requisite in the debe a little more, an an a Gal a litle more cordially, in issing from him, and Decimin, first of all, incite gigueses of a lym man |