thinking, rejoicing men?" It could not be, doubtless, if it depended on the creature; but is anything too hard for the Almighty Creator?

In so judging of possibilities, men err like the Sadducees of old, and for a like reason-"not knowing the Scriptures," as our Lord tells us, nor the power of God." When the grain is put into the earth it dies and rots, but from the decomposed kernel there spring up the blade, the ear, and the ripe and yellow corn, beautifying the field and filling the reaper's heart with joy. Why may it not be so also when the dead are laid in the grave? But in this matter we are not left to mere conjecture, or probability, or beautiful emblem; beyond all this we have the sure and unerring testimony of the Word of God on which to rest our hopes. More cheering still, we have in addition the grand and undeniable fact of Christ, our resurrection. After his passion, he showed himself alive to his disciples by many infallible proofs-being seen of them forty days, in all variety of place and circumstance; for they sat with him, and walked with him, and conversed with him, and ate with him, and touched the very print of the nails. Ever after, accordingly, they bore clear, harmonious, and joyous testimony to Christ's resurrection, not as an opinion or conscientious belief firmly held by them, but as a fact which their own eyes had fully and unmistakably witnessed. And this they continued resolutely to do till their dying hour, in spite of all the obloquy and scourging it brought upon them.

We have thus the very amplest evidence to prove that the apostles were neither deceived nor deceivers when witnessing to the resurrection of our blessed Lord. Their testimony, therefore, is worthy of all acceptation, and may

well be rejoiced in with joy unspeakable; for his resurrection is the grand earnest and pledge of the resurrection of all his people. When Henry Otto, one of the Bohemian martyrs, was condemned to die, he said, "Kill my body, disperse my members whither you please, yet do I believe that my Saviour will gather them together again, so that with these eyes I shall see him, with these ears I shall hear him, with this tongue I shall praise him, and rejoice with this heart for ever."

Take comfort, then, bereaved saints. The loved ones in the Lord ye mourn are not lost, but only gone home a little earlier, nor is the time of separation from them long; they are in the happy harbour of God's saints, on the sweet and pleasant soil.

"You laid them down to sleep,

But not in hope forlorn;

You laid them but to ripen there,
Till the last glorious morn."

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.-JOHN v. 28, 29.

The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.-1 THESS. iv. 16, 18.

August 31.

HOWEVER SLOW IN COMING, DELIVERANCE WILL BE MARVELLOUSLY COMPLETE WHEN IT COMES.

Ν

IN spite of diversity of sphere and social position, there

is in the experience of all God's children in relation to their heavenly Father a remarkable similarity. Having

manifold wants and trials, they all alike need his sympathy and aid. To this there is no exception. Saints that never have a sorrow nor shed a tear shall everywhere be found in heaven, but assuredly never are they seen anywhere on earth.

And as they all alike need his help, so they all alike seek it. There are no dumb children in God's family. Even the feeblest of them can say, "Abba, Father," and open their lips in prayer. In measure, too, all of them receive as well as ask-little at one time, it may be, more at another, but with overflowing fulness in the end. We have sweet and varied exemplification of this in the Psalms, and very specially and fully in the thirty-fourth. It is there written, "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears "-"The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles"-" Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." In the way of deliverance nothing could be more complete than this,from all fears, from all troubles, and from all afflictions.

Meanwhile, it is true, the deliverance is only partial. Sunshine is soon followed by cloud, smiles by tears, the rest of to-day by the toil of to-morrow. Nevertheless, partial though it be, it is a sure earnest of the complete, joyous, and everlasting deliverance yet to be experienced by all the saints. But even here and now, to help them on their homeward way, the assurance is given, that as their day so shall their strength be. "He," says an old writer, "that freely opens the upper, will never wholly close the nether springs. There shall be no silver lacking in Benjamin's sack when Joseph has it to throw in. When the best of Beings is adored, the best of blessings are

enjoyed." We may well then say, "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God; therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Would that all knew the excellency of this shelter and nestled beneath it.

"When the clouds around thee gather,

Doubt him not;

Always hath the daylight broken,
Always hath the comfort spoken;
Better hath he been for years

Than thy fears."

And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.-2 TIM. iv. 17, 18.

What persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. -2 TIM. iii. 11.

The Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.-Ps. lxxxiv. 11.

September 1.

NONE CAN OVERVALUE THE SON, BUT MANY
UNDERVALUE THE SPIRIT.

ANY who would not say, like the men at Ephesus,

MANY

We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost," yet greatly need to be taught that the Spirit is no mere principle, attribute, or influence, but a distinct Person of the blessed Trinity, and possessed to the full of every divine perfection. As the Father planned redemption, and the Son purchased it, so the Holy Spirit makes gracious application of it to the children of men; and all, therefore, that can be said of the love of Father and Son, can be said with equal truth of the love of the Spirit. It is free, infinite, everlasting.

Indeed all believers, from personal experience, can testify that but for the teaching, guiding, upholding, and comforting of the Holy Spirit, they would never have known aright the way of life, or the power and preciousness of redeeming love.

We are dependent on the Spirit, not at the first only, but all through life. Even at a throne of grace there are seasons with us when we scarcely know how to pray, or what to pray for, and sometimes even lack the heart to pray at all; but in our time of need the Holy Spirit lovingly helps our infirmities, and maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. We We may well, therefore, feel greatly encouraged in prayer; for while Christ intercedes on our behalf in heaven, the Spirit intercedes on earth. The one pleads without us, the other pleads within us, and both plead for us; nor is there anywhere a comforter like him in the tenderness of his helpful sympathy.

"It does seem a marvel," says one,

Ghost should be a comforter.

"that the Holy To teach, to preach, to

command with authority,-how many are willing to do this, because it is honourable work! But to sit down and bear with the infirmities of the creature, to enter into all the stratagems of unbelief, to find the soul a way of peace in the midst of seas of trouble, this is compassion like a God."

Robert M'Cheyne tells us that when little Jamie Laing was nearing the valley of the shadow of death, he said— "God the Father made and preserves me; God the Son came into the world and died for me; God the Holy Spirit came into my heart and made me love God and hute sin." Sweet testimony from the lips of a child!