up all our thoughts. During the reign of the second, we were overtaken with severe famine, and all expected to perish; then we ate grass and wood and loathsome things. During the third, we were conquered and became the spoil and the prey of the people in the other parts of the island; then, if a man went to fish, he rarely ever returned, or if a woman went any distance to fetch wood, she was seldom ever seen again. But during the reign of the third king we were visited by another King, a good King, a King of love-Jesus, the Lord from heaven. He has conquered our hearts, and therefore we now have peace and plenty in this world, and hope soon to dwell with him in heaven." Happily, the day is hastening on when, in a fuller and more blessed sense than ever, all this shall be visibly realized. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth... Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.-Ps. lxxii. 7, 11. I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.-Ps. xlv. 1, 2. May 29. THOSE WHO COME TO CHRIST MUST WALK WITH HIM. IT T is the law of the kingdom that if we begin with Jesus we must go on with him. The inner life must, sooner or later, have an outward and progressive manifestation in our daily walk. Full sympathy is required for this; for, in the nature of things, there cannot be fellowship in walk without fellowship in feeling. "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" On this account we must carefully see to it, not merely that there is a begun reconciliation in our souls, through the blood of the Lamb, but that, through the Word and Spirit, it is maintained from day to day in loving, conscious warmth. This is all the more needful, as it is expressly predicted that when "iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Alas! how many are there even now who give their whole sympathies to the world and not to Christ. Further, in order to consistency of walk, there must be constancy in dependence. It is the sweet privilege of believers not merely to be near their Lord, but to lean upon him. This should ever be their relation and attitude the weak leaning on the Strong, at once trustfully and lovingly. It is heavy walking when this is forgotten. In wisdom's paths it is always found that the best leaner is the best walker. Moreover, there must be a steady holding on to the very end. "Enoch did not only take a turn up and down with God," as one says, "and then leave him; but he walked with God four hundred years, and then passed sweetly away from earth to heaven." "This world," said Sir Matthew Hale, "is the place of our travel and pilgrimage, and at the best our inn. I will therefore content myself with the inconveniences of my short journey; for my accommodations will be admirable when I come to my home-the heavenly Jerusalem-the place of my rest, where there are no sorrows, nor fears, nor troubles more." Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.-JER. ii. 2. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.-EPH. iv. 1. May 30. WE SHOULD PRIZE TRUE UNITY, AND PRAY FOR IT. WHEN HEN men keenly say, "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas," they put the servant where the Master only should be, and are narrow and sectional when they should be lovingly catholic. Such things ought not to be; for, as their natural tendency ever is to envyings and strifes and bitter divisions, they are necessarily destructive of all true unity. Every man, doubtless, should be fully persuaded in his own mind, and honestly carry out his conscientious convictions; yet this should always be done as much as possible with kindly and considerate forbearance, all the more as there may be real unity without absolute uniformity. There must never, indeed, be any letting go of the fundamental truths of the gospel for any end whatever, however seemingly desirable. Any unity so secured would be at a fatal price, and would surely and speedily issue in spiritual decay and death. Those who forsake the faith, however seemingly united, will themselves be forsaken, and have Ichabod inscribed on them. What should be mainly aimed at and prayed for in this matter, is to secure "in essential things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; and in all things, charity." True unity was so dear to our blessed Lord, that it may well be dear to all his people. "Neither pray I for these alone," he said, "but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee...that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." What thus found a place in his prayers should also find a place in ours. Meanwhile, it is cheering to think that, beneath all the seeming diversity in name and form, there often exists among believers such substantial unity in truth and love. "I was once permitted," said Robert M'Cheyne, "to unite in celebrating the Lord's Supper in an upper room in Jerusalem. There were fourteen present, the most of whom, I had good reason to believe, knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Several were godly Episcopalians; two were converted Jews-one a Christian from Nazareth, converted under the American missionaries. The bread and wine were dispensed in the Episcopal manner, and most were kneeling as they received them. We felt it to be sweet fellowship with Christ, and with the brethren; and, as we left the upper room and looked out upon the Mount of Olives, we remembered with calm joy the prayer from our Lord that ascended from one of the shady ravines after the first Lord's Supper: 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one."" If such union and communion are so sweet, even on earth, what will they be in heaven, when, without cloud or veil of any kind, believers in countless numbers shall be for ever with the Lord! "That mighty multitude shall keep The joyous jubilee! Unfading palms they bear aloft, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy cf the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.-EPH. iv. 1-3. Above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.-COL. iii. 14, 15. May 31. WE CANNOT BE LOYAL TO THE LORD IF DISLOYAL TO HIS WORD. THE HE Lord counts no man his friend who deals lightly with his Word. He who, under the guise of being fair and candid, while admitting its unrivalled excellence, denies its inspiration, is betraying it with a kiss. A Bible uninspired, or only half inspired, the value and degree of weight of its statements made matter of each man's discretion,-whatever else it may be, is not the God-given Sword of the Spirit, which is quick, powerful, sharp, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is not the Word to which the Son of God referred when he said: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Though it is not given us fully to understand the mode of inspiration by the Spirit, we are left in no doubt as to the completeness of it. As the human and the divine, in a manner unknown to us, were combined in Christ to constitute him the all-perfect Mediator and Redeemer, so is it with the Bible. The human is in it, for it comes to us through men; and not through the instrumentality of their hands simply, but of their whole nature—mind, heart, conscience, will, imagination, and memory. the divine is also in it; and so in it, though in a manner But |