ment of his friendship and love? He is fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured into his lips. Sweet is his voice, and his countenance is comely.' But let us remember that he has an arm strong to smite, as well as to save, and that if we continue in our unbelief, if the love of Christ do not constrain us thus to judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all,' given to him by the Father, 'that they should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again;' and if we will not come unto him, that we may have life, and have it more abundantly,' his smiles will be changed to frowns, and his sentence on that day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, will be, Depart from me, I know you not' now, for you would not know me when I offered you myself and all my blessing, 'ye workers of iniquity.' 'Lord, save us, we perish.' O say unto us, Fury is not in me. It is I, be not afraid. We will take hold of thy strength, O God, the Father, that he may make peace for us with thee; for we know and rejoice in the knowledge, that he has made, and will make peace with thee for all that believe in his name.'

NINTH DAY.-MORNING.

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before the world was.' Of this glory in all its fulness and extent, he was now to resume the possession. In the presence of his beloved followers, whose faith, once wavering, was now as immovable as complete conviction produced by the Spirit could make it; and while in the impressive act of pouring out his benediction on those whom he had chosen and qualified as the heralds of salvation, he was parted from them,' and ascended a triumphant conqueror to his everlasting kingdom. Their eyes, it is true, could not follow their glorious Lord to his throne; for while they beheld, a cloud received him out of their sight.' But that he did then enter into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,' is proved by the promised descent of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, when the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.' Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,'-and he was now gone I will send him unto you.' And what is his office as the Sent of the King of Zion? When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine

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and shall show it unto you.' The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound there

of, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.' The operation is invisible, but its effects are visible; for the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law; and they who are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.' These are the gifts which Jesus having purchased by his death, received for men,' when he ascended on high leading captivity captive,' and these are the very graces which the Spirit, one with the Father and the Son, bestows on

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‹ Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led cap--and all things that the Father hath are mine— tivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them,' Psal. lxviii. 18. OUR Lord, at his last appearance to his disciples, reminded them of the repeated intimations which he had given them of the 'sufferings' wherewith his life of humiliation was to be closed, and of the glory that was to follow.' He blessed them with the most satisfactory knowledge of the predictions of the Old Testament as applicable to himself, the end of the law for righteousness,' and pointed out the necessity which there was for their exact accomplishment, that the decrees of the Almighty might be executed, his justice vindicated, his mercy exalted, and his word have free course, and be glorified,' Luke xxiv. 45-the called according to his purpose. It will 53. The guilt of God's elect had been expiated, and a new and living way opened into the holiest of all.' Jesus, 'the resurrection and the life,' had been declared to be the Son of God with power, and became the first-fruits of them that slept. I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do: and now, O Father, glorify me with thine ownself, with that glory which I had with thee

tend greatly to exalt and sanctify our conceptions of the Redeemer's love to consider, and with particular reference to ourselves, what they were for whom he has procured, at the expense of his own blood, such astonishing, unspeakable, and unperishable blessings. They were rebellious' in open hostility to their rightful Sovereign, trampling on his laws, and setting his power at defiance. But he girded his sword upon his

Is our faith Let us run

captive,' and is now seated on his kingly throne, | adopted into God's family, and show that we are And his sons in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.' Having a way of access to the divine presence, and claims on the divine mercy, established for, and made over to us by Jesus, the surety of a better testament,' founded on better promises, let us seek by instant prayer, supplies of grace from the fountain of grace,' that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.' God is for us, and who then can be against us? at times weak and like to expire? to the mercy-seat, and there make known our fears of making shipwreck of our Christian confidence. Our Intercessor is still there as kind and compassionate, though he may have withdrawn his face for a little, as ever. Are we attacked by the temptations of the world, the instruments which Satan employs, to regain possession of souls that have been rescued from his thraldom, and restored to the liberty of the gospel? Let us immediately raise our eyes and our thoughts to heaven, and as certainly as God has been reconciled by the one free-will offering of his Son, his Spirit will bring relief, subdue the adversary, and enable us to adopt the prophet's language, and to join in his song of anticipated, and soon to be completed victory, 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. For when I fall, then shall I rise.' Are we beset with spiritual fears, and troubled with despondency, under the hidings of the Saviour's countenance! Let us besiege the throne of grace with still more importunate prayers, and calling to remembrance all the past tokens of the Redeemer's love, let us plead and implore till he has heard, and shall thus graciously address us: Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.'

the head over all things to his church.' for what purpose? It must be one of transcendant importance. And so it is; for it is to give repentance unto Israel, and the forgiveness of sins.' These two gifts are essentially connected. They cannot exist in a state of separation; they have one origin; Jesus Christ is the author of of both. There is a frequently occurring and dangerous error on this subject, which must be carefully guarded against, if we would understand the gospel aright, and see clearly how the sinner becomes one of the children of God. This error consists in imagining, if not in broadly asserting, that repentance is our own work, and merits forgiveness. We have been guilty, we admit, of acting contrary to the dictates of reason, and the express declarations of the written word. The deeds thus committed are followed by suffering, and the disapprobation of the moral principle within us. We feel that we have done wrong, and we resolve to do better. We are sorry for our misconduct. We turn from the evil of our ways; and we claim pardon, as a something to which we are fairly entitled by our self-managed, thorough repentance! O how many souls have thus been deceived and lost, going into eternity with a lie in their right hand, and never knowing that sentence was pronounced against them, till, as it has been strongly expressed-perhaps too strongly for ears polite-till they read it at the flames of hell. Repentance unto life is a saving grace,' entirely the gift of God, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin,' awakened in him by the Spirit of truth,' and apprehension, or laying hold by faith, of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin,' wrought in him by that one, and the selfsame Spirit,'turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience,' formed, strengthened, and sustained by him alone, who doeth whatsoever it pleaseth him, in heaven and in the earth, in the sea, and in all deep places.' In this scriptural account of repentance, every thing is represented as the doing of the Lord, who will not give' the 'glory' of this great work to another.' He changes, and renews, and inspires, and leads, and we are made willing to follow. We are the dry bones in the valley, yea, we are very dry,' and the Spirit of God and of his Christ alone can cause breath to enter into us, and then we shall live.' Having received the gift of repentance, we are assured that our sins are forgiven; and being put in possession of these two blessings invariably accompanying saving faith, let us prize our peculiar privileges as the

TENTH DAY.-MORNING.

'He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me,' Luke x.

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JESUS Christ spake these words to the seventy disciples, whom he sent before him, to prepare the people for his coming, in those places which he was about to visit. They contain weighty matter for meditation—

1. In regard to the work of gospel ministers. | as one sent by Christ, and entrusted with a mess'He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that age to me, that would bring me at once into the despiseth you, despiseth me.' Jesus Christ identi- position of one dealing with Christ. The only way fied himself with these his servants, and he does in which we can now hear Christ, is by hearing so still with all ministers who truly preach the his servants speaking his truth. The King hath gospel. A minister of the gospel is avowedly an gone into a far country to receive a kingdom, and ambassador for Christ. He must, therefore, be to return. Meanwhile, his ambassadors are sent careful to know and speak the mind of Christ, as with a message from him, to those who have rerevealed and recorded in the scriptures, for the belled against him, in this province of his domiLord's sake whose ambassador he is, for his own nions. They speak not of their own, but of sake, and for the sake of those to whom he is Christ's things, and by his command: so that he sent. It is an awful thing to misrepresent the who heareth them heareth Christ. character and will of the Lord Jesus Christ,-to announce that which is not true with a 'thus saith the Lord.' May the Spirit of God preserve his servants from this dreadful sin! And is there not deep guilt in misleading, to their eternal ruin, precious souls inquiring the way to be saved? When a simple, honest-minded man, reads in the scriptures this passage, in which our Saviour says, He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me;' and when in consequence, with all sincerity and earnestness, he listens to his minister, as to one whose teaching has the weight and authority of Christ himself; and when his minister largely mingles error with the truth, and thus perverting the understanding, and hindering the faith, and making the man's very light to be darkness, ruins the man's soulO better to be one of God's irrational creatures, than such a minister: better had it been for such a minister, that he had never been born.

It must be the first care of Christ's ministers to speak as Christ speaks. By study, by meditation, by prayer, they should seek acquaintance with divine truth. And in expounding scripture, they should be more anxious to bring forward what is true, than what is new. For it is not enough, in expounding scripture, that a truth be set forth: it is needful that the truth contained in the passage be brought out—that the mind of the Spirit in that portion of the word of God be unfolded. Fanciful interpretations of the word are sinful and dangerous. Why, for the sake of being thought striking and original, torture a passage of scripture to make it teach an important truth, which is plainly and repeatedly taught in other passages?

But our Lord's words also teach that a responsibility, equally weighty and solemn, attaches to those who enjoy a gospel ministry. To this responsibility many, in hearing the gospel, are utterly insensible. It is the preacher only that they see or think of. The fact that Christ is addressing them through the preacher, never once occurs to their mind. If I regarded the preacher

What a vast importance does this give to the gospel message! How foolish to let little excrescencies distract my attention from the truths claimed, in which I have so deep an interest! When I go to the house of God, let me remember that it is not to my minister merely that I go to listen, but to my Saviour speaking to me by my minister. And when I retire from church, let me treasure up, and value, and observe what I have heard, as my dear Saviour's message to me for my correction, my comfort, my instruction, or my guidance. For I read that Jesus said to his followers sent forth to preach the truth, ‘He that heareth you, heareth me.'

The fact that the gospel set forth in preaching is Christ's word, and not the word of the minister, also involves in deep guilt and awful danger those who despise the gospel message, or hear it with indifference or neglect. When I despise a fellow-creature labouring truly and rightly for my good, I am guilty of sin: but when I despise the eternal Father, who sent his own Son to humiliation and agonies for my sake, what name should be given to my conduct? When I hear, with utter indifference, or cold unconcern, Christ telling me of his love, and his sufferings, and his death, and the deliverance from hell that he hath purchased, and the heaven of holiness, and happiness, and glory that he hath prepared, how should such behaviour as mine be characterised? But surely few are guilty of such sins? Nay, verily, but many are. How many statements of gospel truth on these points have I and others despised-either treated them as fanatical imaginations, or heard them with inattention and indifference? No matter though it was only a minister, perhaps a minister weak in gifts, or awkward in manner, or rude in speech, that made the gospel statement. Was he a servant of God, and did he speak the truth of God? Then Christ in sending him forth said to him,' He that despiseth thee, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me.' Every time, therefore, that I treat with neglect or indifference gospel

teach; and in testimony that he was a teacher sent by God, he wrought many wonderful works before their eyes. It did not manifest such hardened and daring wickedness in Tyre and Sidon, to resist the influence of their intercourse TYRE and Sidon were two famous cities, situated with the Israelites, wayward, perverse, and near each other, on the shore of the Mediterran- rebellious as these Israelites often were, as it did ean sea. They were in that portion of Canaan in Chorazin and Bethsaida to resist the divine which fell to the tribe of Asher, but the ancient teaching of the Son of God, and the many strikinhabitants, the Phoenicians, were never disposing miracles of mercy which he wrought among