comfortable sense of the Father's love is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. The more love thou hast, the more cheerfully wilt thou obey, and patiently suffer His will on earth, and glorify thy Father which is in heaven. Therefore let no man stop thee of thy glorying in the everlasting, electing love of God thy Father in Christ Jesus. O never think of trifling with, or trimming about, or placidly giving up these important truths for the sake of any man. Dare be upright and faithful to thy God in these sifting, shifting times. Buy the truth, but sell it not, to gain the esteem of any one. Improve this love to the humbling of thine own soul.

Call to mind thy former state. Remember that thou wert once dead in trespasses and sins, a stranger to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. In such a state, what didst thou, what couldst thou do to entitle thyself to the love and favour of God? O rather what hadst thou not done to merit His eternal wrath and resentment? But love freely interposed-it powerfully stopped thee in thy mad career, posting to destruction, and plucked thee as a brand out of everlasting burnings. O this was the Lord's doing, and it ought to be constantly marvellous in thine eyes. Know that thou hadst not the least hand in it. Yea, thy will itself was averse to it; hell was thy desert; heaven is thine by free gift. Verily, in ecstasy of surprise and wonder of joy, thou and every believer in Jesus may well cry out, Why me, Lord! what am I! wherefore is it! what have I done that I should be called a son of God! that I should be made a joint-heir with Christ! Truly no other reason canst thou assign, but must conclude with blessed Paul, "By the grace of God I am what I am.'

For the rejoicing of thine own soul, thou mayest be fully assured, and in the triumphs of faith mayest ever sing to thy Lord,

That Love divine that made ME thine,

Shall keep ME thine for ever.

Thou hast the assurance of the Spirit of truth, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;" thou shalt "be kept by the mighty power of God, through faith, unto salvation." And this is thy dear and loving Saviour's demand of His Father-"Father, I will that they whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory" &c., John xvii. 24.

O how safe is thy state! O how secure and certain thy salvation! Believer, rejoice in hope. Triumph in the prospects of faith. Sing on the rest of thy journey. A few more conflicts, and all will be well. Soon, O soon shall thy beloved soul take its flight to the realms of bliss, the regions of glory. When entered there, then in what exalted strains wilt thou join all the chosen, redeemed, glorified race, in ascribing "salvation to God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb;" and with the most inflamed and enraptured soul will cry out, By the grace of God I am where I am.

Animated by this love, cheered by this hope, influenced by this faith, what should be thy present study and work? Verily to drive down every vain cavil, every carnal objection urged against the ever

lasting, electing love of thy God and Father. Ever be concerned, by the grace of God, to have thy conversation in the world, and to adorn the doctrine of sovereign, discriminating love, by a devotion of heart and life to thy God and Father, who hath loved thee with an everlasting love-to thy dear Jesus, who hath saved thee with an everlasting salvation-to that blessed Spirit, who hath given thee everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.

HOW TRIALS ARE TO BE ESTIMATED.

I think the greatness of trials is to be estimated rather by the impression they make on our spirits, than by their outward appearance. The smallest will be too heavy for us, if we are left to grapple with it in our own strength, or rather weakness; and if the Lord is pleased to put forth His power in us, He can make the heaviest light. A lively impression of His love, or of His sufferings for us, or of the glories within the vail, accompanied with a due sense of the miseries from which we are redeemed-these thoughts will enable us not only to be submissive, but even joyful in tribulations. When faith is in exercise, though the flesh will have its feelings, the spirit will triumph over them. But it is needful we should know that we have no sufficiency in ourselves, and in order to know it we must feel it; and therefore the Lord sometimes withdraws His sensible influence, and then the buzzing of a fly will be an over match for our patience. At other times He will show what He can do in us and for us, then we can adopt the apostle's words and say, I can do, or suffer, all things, through Christ strengthening me. He has said, My grace is sufficient for thee. It is observable that the children of God seldom disappoint our expectations under great trials; if they show a wrongness of spirit, it is usually in such little incidents, that we are ready to wonder at them. For which two reasons may be principally assigned. When great trials are impending we run simply and immediately to our all-sufficient Friend, feel our dependence, and cry in good earnest for help; but if the occasion seems small, we are too apt secretly to lean to our own wisdom and strength, as if in such slight matters we could make shift without Him. Therefore in these we often fail. Again, the Lord deals with us as we sometimes see mothers with their children. When a child begins to walk, he is often very self-important; he thinks he needs no help, and can hardly bear to be supported by the finger of another. Now in such a case, if there is no danger or harm from a fall, as if he is on a plain carpet, the mother will let him alone to try how he can walk. He is pleased at first, but presently down he comes, and a few experiments of this kind convince him he is not so strong and able as he thought, and makes Him willing to be led. But was he upon the brink of a sewer or a precipice, from whence a fall might be fatal, the tender mother would not trust him to himself not for a moment. I have not room to make the application, nor is it needful. It requires the same grace to bear with a right spirit a cross word as a cross injury, or the breaking of a china plate as the death of an only son.-Newton.

ALL OF GRACE.

When the apostle comes out with such glorious statements as we have in Titus iii. 5-" But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared"'-we find him always laying the foundation in the lost, ruined, helpless state of man, as you have depicted thus in verse 3-"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another". -a faithful picture of what you and I are by nature. This, you see, is the foundation he lays of the grace of God-the helpless, ruined, wretched state of man. And this is the foundation God lays in the experience, when He comes to convince of sin-He gives a sight of sinnership; and till we feel this, there is no relish for Christ and for grace. The Lord's beginnings in the souls of His people, I know, are various. The way God begins is not alike in all; but sooner or later, when a work of grace is begun in the heart of a child of God, there must be a breaking down, a humbling, and such a sight of sinnership as shall make Christ necessary. This is common to all God's people; and if this is not realized, there is no real experience. To be sensible of grace, we must be broken by the law, made to feel what we are, and then we rightly value grace. Depend upon it, there is no true prizing of Jesus till we feel our lost and ruined state. There is a two-fold work that ever accompanies the conversion of a sinner, and that deepens as it proceeds -a sight and sense of sin, and our helpless condition; and a deeper sense of all we owe to Jesus Christ, and the sovereign, unmerited love of a God of all grace. Now this must be the root of the matter in us, or it will never stand; and when a sinner is brought to see himself condemned, helpless, ruined, undone, then he feels there is nothing but mighty grace can save him. Our text reads thus-" But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.” Now the two grand points are these-Has sin appeared to you? and if so, Has Jesus appeared to you? This comprehends the work of the gospel in the heart of a sinner. Christ appeared in the work of the cross. Ah, but that will not do for you, that is not enough for you. Christ must appear to your soul; He must bring nigh the salvation He wrought out then; He must appear for your peace. You must have a revelation of the work of the Lord Jesus to your heart. Did He ever tell you of His love? Did He ever appear to you in such sort as to make you sensible of His preciousness? This appearance is all of kindness and sheer grace, mercy, and love; and the preparation for this mercy is the feeling sense of the want of it-a sense of misery prepares the soul for the mercy. Like the three thousand that at Peter's sermon were pricked to the heart-this was God's way to prepare them for mercy, to make them value mercy. A sense of misery is sown in the heart, that mercy may be revealed, and nothing but grace suits us then. And there is no mercy without blood. Blood is the atonement; and atonement being made, forgiveness must follow, and confession must be drawn forth from the humbled heart; and then we read-"If

we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Why, He would be neither faithful nor just, after the blood being shed, and the atonement made, if He did not forgive sins. But there must be a confession of sin, friends; God will make you feel sin, and tell it all to Him; make a clean breast and tell Him the worst. If your heart condemn you, God is greater than your heart, and knows all things. He knows much worse of you than you know of yourself; but He is faithful and just to forgive you your sin when you confess it, because of the shed blood which atones for sin. Well, then, the kindness appears in the mode and way of salvation-all of grace-by the regenerating work of the Spirit-by the renewings of the Holy Ghost -by the quickenings of God in the soul. So that till a soul is born again, regenerated, he can know nothing about the kindness of God. What can He know about the cleansing from sin? the work of the Spirit? the renewals of the Holy Ghost? of sovereign, distinguishing grace? Nothing. But notice here how blessedly the apostle speaks of this grace "Shed on us abundantly." How? In choosing, calling, quickening, regenerating, justifying, pardoning, shedding abroad the love of God in the soul, breathing in the spirit of adoption, realizing relationship between the Father and the child-all this is the abundance of grace. And more, there is communion with God, precious feeding upon the word, a sweet committal of all our cares to Him. Now this is to know something of the "kindness of God"-to have the hand of blessing laid upon you as a Father-to pass again under the hand of the Shepherd-to find yourself in the fold-to feed in the pasture-to go in and out, and have the Lord's presence-to feel yourself in communion with Him. Oh, do not you need all this kindness, living as you do in such a sinful, dying world? But there is a better land, and no saint shall die before His time; for when the appointed hour comes, no remedies will avail, no medicine will cure. And seeing we know not how soon our turu may come, how important to know the things whereof we speak; to feel their influence in the heart—not in a notional way, not in the letter of truth as an opinion-but in an experimental, feeling way. Now to enjoy these divine realities is to know something of this verse "Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." This is to enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ. This will give you a happy end. But if you are to have a happy end, you must have a happy beginning. Now God's beginning is in a feeling sense of sin; and when God begins He will end, and convinced souls shall come to pardon and peace. Some of you never had it, others of you have had it and lost it. The devil is glad enough to rob you of it. But though he cannot destroy, he may devour your peace; therefore watch and pray, and when the enemy comes in like a flood, it is God's work to lift up a standard against J. A. W.

him.

The heir must believe his title to an estate in reversion before he can hope for it; faith believes its title to glory, and then hope waits for it. Did not faith feed the lamp of hope with oil it would soon die.-Ambrose.

EXTRACTS.

"I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord."-This is a day in which the truth of God is blasphemed, when a wicked world seems to be increasing in strength and malice, and when the wicked one seems to be rising with giant power. This is the day in which the people of God should look forward to the time when the Lord shall establish His own kingdom, and when He shall take to Him His great power, and shall reign. We ask whether you are enabled to look forward with bright anticipation to that glorious day? Whether you are able to say, it refreshes my soul to think of that "inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away"-an inheritance, my title to which is sealed with the blood of Christ-an inheritance of which the Lord has given me the pledge and earnest in my own soul, by the Spirit's gracious testimony through the word? We ask whether you can look forward to the time when that church which is now so separated—some of whose members are with the Lord, others left to buffet their way through an evil world-shall be brought together? What a blessed prospect is this; it cheers the hearts of God's children. Can you take up these words, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord ?" I am tried and tempted and harassed by the enemy-I want the Lord to come to my help "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord."-Krause.

Is not the case of Joshua the high priest, described by the prophet, Zech. iii. 1—5, applicable to you, as it has been to many before you? When he stood before the Lord in His filthy garments, Satan was at his right hand to resist him. Joshua had nothing to offer in His own behalf he could not deny the charge, or pretend that his filthy garments were white and clean. But he had a powerful Friend to plead for him, who claimed him as a brand plucked out of the fire, silenced his adversary, and clothed him with a change of raiment. Thus totally undeserving are we; thus abundantly gracious is the Lord.Newton.

You say, "It never came with life and power to my soul that He died for me." If you mean you never had any extraordinary, sudden manifestation, something like a vision or a voice from heaven confirming it to you, I can say the same. But I know He died for sinners; I know I am a sinner; I know He invites them that are ready to perish; I am such a one; I know, upon His own invitation, I have committed myself to Him; and I know by the effects that He has been with me hitherto, otherwise I should have been an apostate long ago; and therefore I know that He died for me, for had He been pleased to kill me (as He justly might have done), He would not have shown me such things as these.-Newton.

Cheer up, tried believer, and commit yourself to the Almighty Shepherd and Saviour. He knows your sorrows, your fears, and your feelings. All your enemies are under His control, and cannot distress you a moment longer than He permits them.-Newton.