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No. 
 WHAT WILT THOU THAT I SHOULD DO ? 
 
 BY REV. WM. J. HOGE, D. P., OF VA. 
 
 " What wilt thou that J should do unto thee? " 
 A goodly word, indeed! What would not a soul, 
 struggling in the depths and entanglements of sin, 
 give once to hear it irom his Lord? Let us admire, 
 
 I. The fulness of the grace. The tender love of 
 Christ to lost souls is -a great deep, without bottom 
 and without shore. The wing of no angel can bear 
 him so high that he can look over all its extent. 
 The. guilt of no sinner has been able to sound all its 
 depth, ^he countless multitudes, who have been 
 washed in its waters, have not diminished its abund- 
 ance nor impaired its virtue. 
 
 Jesus puts no limit to His offers. Ask, it 
 shall be given you. Ask, and ye shall receive, that 
 your joy may be full. Whatsoever ye shall 
 ask in my name, that will I do. 1 In him are hid 
 all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 2 All 
 power is given unto Him in heaven and earth. 3 He 
 is the head of all the power. 4 All things were crea- 
 ted by Him and for Him. 5 In Him dwclleth all the 
 fulness of the Godhead bodily. 6 His word can 
 open heaven to the vilest sinner : yea, His smile 
 can make a heaven in the saddest heart. He is Heir 
 of all things, 7 and, at the believing call of the mean- 
 est beggar, He will make the beggar a joint-heir with 
 Him,* to an inheritance incorruptible, undefined, and 
 that fadeth not away 9 — an exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory. 10 When we are Christ's Christ is ours; 
 and then all things are ours." Well might the Apos- 
 tle count all things loss for Christ. 12 Such loss is 
 infinite gain. With the Lord Jesus Christ, afflictions 
 
 1 Mat., vii. 7 ; John, xvi. 24; xiv. 13. 2 Col., ii. 3. 
 3 Mat., xxviii. 18. 4 Col., ii. 10. 5 Col., i. 16. 
 6 Col.,ii. 9. 7 Heb., i. 2. 8 Rom.,viii.l7 
 
 9 1 Fet., i. 4. 10 2 Cor. iv. 17. • 
 
 11 Cor., iii, 21-23. 12 Phil., iii, 7. 
 
2 WHAT \tlLT THOU, &C. 
 
 are blessings, shame is honor, sickness is health, and 
 death is life for evermore ; out of weakness we are 
 made strong, 1 in solitude we have the best company; 
 our poverty turns to the true riches, our crosses to 
 the sweetestcomforts ; nature gives way to grace, 
 and grace issues in eternal glory. 
 
 II. Let us - also admire the freeness of Christ's 
 offers to lost sinners. The freeness of the offe • 
 springs from the the fulness of the grace. " What 
 wilt thou ? " Choose for thyself. If thou dost not 
 carry away a noble gift, it is thine own fault. I d<> 
 not set bounds to thy desires. The treasure is 
 infinite, and thou hast it all to choose from.** 
 
 The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened, and if we 
 are, it is in ourselves. 2 The Lord's hand is not shor- 
 tened, neither is His ear heavy ; but our iniquities 3 ' 
 — ah, there is the trouble ! And to sin hides God's 
 facesooner,or behind a darker cloud, than our unbe- 
 lief. God's grace is always larger than man's desire, 
 and freer than his faith.' 1 We continually n'eecl 
 His exhortation to Israel, Open thy mouth wide 
 and I will fill it. 5 One prayer should be ever on pur 
 lips, Lord, increase our) faith! 6 If this day our 
 fleece is dry, it is not because there is no dew in 
 heaven, nor because none fell last night. 7 If we 
 take little pitchers to the well, we shall carry little 
 water away. Though the golden bowl be full of 
 golden oil, the lamp will burn dim, if the golden 
 pipe be narrow or choked. 8 The ocean itself can 
 pour but a scanty stream through a slender channel. 
 And when sinners cry, I have no grace, it is 
 because unbelief has shut up (heir bosoms. Or 
 when the people of God cry, My leanness! my lean- 
 ness ! ° it is because their narrow faith suiTers them 
 only to taste where they might drink— only to snatch 
 
 Mic, ii. 7; 2 Cor., vi. 12. 8 Heb., xi. 34. y Is., lix. i, 2. 
 4 Eph., *ii. 20, b Ps. lxxxi. 10. e Luke, xviii. 5. 
 7 Judges, vi. 40, 8 Zech., iv. 2, 12. 9 Is., xxiv. 16. 
 
WHAT WILT THOU. &C. . 3 
 
 crumbs with the dogs, while tliey might sit down 
 with the children at the table, anc\ feast on all the 
 savory things with which Christ spreads His board. 
 
 "Whosoever" and "whatsoever" are two pre- 
 cious words often in the mouth of. Christ. Whoso- 
 evo- will may come. 1 Whatsoever ye shall ;isk in 
 rny name, tha< will ^ do* "Whosoever" is on 
 he outside uf the gate, ;>nd lets in all who choose. 
 "Whatsoever" is on the inside, a.nd gives thos« 
 who enter the free range of al' the region and treas- 
 ury of grace. " Whosoever'' makes salvation free, 
 " Whatsoever " makes it full. 
 
 III. See how Christ's grace condescends 'o every 
 soul's peculiar need. He will suit His granting to 
 our asking. To every soul He says, " What wH 
 thou?" 
 
 It is marvellous and beautiful to observe how va- 
 rious arc the voices of free grace. " I am thirsty," 
 says one. "Come to the waters." she cries. 3 "1 
 am hungry," says another. "Then eat ye that 
 which is good," shesays, " and let your soul dcligh. 
 itself in fatness." 4 But T am poor, and have 
 nothing to buy with." ' Come, buy wii.e and milk 
 without money, and without, price.' 6 "Wo are 
 weary," sigtf the laborers in the sun-beaten fields. 
 "Comeunlo me," breathes her answer 'ike a breeze 
 from the waters, " and 1 will give you rest." 6 " Can. 
 thy burden on the Lord aud He will sustain thee," 7 
 she whispers to the pilgrim ready to faint on the 
 highway. " Behold the Fountain," she cies to the 
 guilty, "the Fountain opened for sin and unclean- 
 ness." 8 To the lost she cries, " 1 am the Way \" 
 to the ignorant, "I am the Truth •" to the dying. 
 " T am the Life." 9 How large her welcome to th-, 
 
 1 Rev. xxii. 17 : John, vii. 37. a John, xiv. 13. 
 
 3 Is., lv. 1. 4 Is., lv. 2. 5 Is., iv. 1. 
 
 a Mat., xi. 28. 7 Pa. lv. 22. * Zech. xiii. 1. 
 1 John, xiv. 6. 
 
4 WHAT WILT THOU, &C, 
 
 sinner,how soothing her consolations to the mourner, 
 how inspiring her tones to him that is faint of heart ! 
 There is no disease for which she has not a remedy, 
 no want for which she has not a supply ; and every 
 one who applies to her shall confess at length, " It 
 is enough; lam blessed as if all the methods and 
 riches of grace were for me alone! " 
 
 IV. This question teaches that, though Christ 
 knows what we want and what He will do, He will 
 have us express our wants. 
 
 Prayer is not giving information to God ; that 
 His Omniscience does not need :' nor does it change 
 His will ; that His Immutability cannot sutler. 2 It 
 does not awaken His grace, for it is from everlas- 
 ting^ nor increase it, for it is infinite. But it opens 
 a way for grace to flow according to its own eternal 
 plan. It is faith's answer to Christ's question, 
 " What wilt thou ? ,; It lives only as grace quickens 
 it, and speaks only as grace teaches it. There is no 
 true prayer till God pours out His Holy Spirit — the 
 Spirit of grace and supplications. 3 He is first the 
 Spirit of grace, implanting holy affections, and then 
 the Spirit of supplications, turning these affections 
 into earnest desires, which breathe from the heart 
 in prayer, even as the same Spirit helpeth our in- 
 firmities. 4 Let us, therefore, come boldly nnto the 
 throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and 
 find grace to help in time of need! 6 
 
 'Mat,, vi. 8 2 James, i. 17. 3 Zech., xii. 10. 
 4 Rom., viii. 26. 5 Heb., iv. 10. 
 
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