almighty agency, and in connexion with | which divine influence is so often and what class of means. We can have no absolute claim on its communication even in our attendance on the means of grace. Often is it actually withheld, and always is the time when it will be conferred, unknown, in order to impress us with a sense of its value and the necessity of diligence in seeking it. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. The wind bloweth where it listeth, .... so is every one that is born of the Spirit." It is gracious. Of God's good pleasure, -or as the expression (vπèρ τñs eúdoкías) may be rendered,-according to his own gratuitous benevolence. Although in the donation of his Holy Spirit God acts most freely and sovereignly, he never acts capriciously. He proceeds as he does for the most beneficent as well as the wisest of purposes, with a view, as we have said, to enhance the unspeakable gift in our estimation, that we may solicit it more earnestly and enjoy it more fully, whilst we yield the glory to him by whom it is so gratuitously and graciously conferred. IV. That the bestowment of almighty influence is perfectly compatible and closely connected with man's free agency and personal efforts. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." beautifully compared, is produced? Whether the vapour is condensed by cold, or electricity, or both? Yet the existence of the facts is undeniable. And equally certain is it that the Spirit of God does influence the heart and direct the conduct of every one who acts in his fear and is devoted to his praise. For every effect, as well moral as physical, must be the result of an adequate cause. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Nor is it less true, as matter of fact, that divine influence does not destroy, or interfere with, the free exercise of human agency. God does not do our work; he cannot work out our salvation with fear and trembling. He gives the power to will and to do according to his own righteous will; but the use of that power belongs to man. Otherwise, man were a mere machine, only acting as wrought upon by foreign force, whether for good or for evil, and therefore irresponsible as to the qualities of his actions not voluntarily performed. How could God then judge the world, or pronounce upon any of his creatures a sentence either of condemnation or of approval ? Are we not assured that, whilst the wicked will reap the fruit of their works, the righteous will also receive the reward of their doings? "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' And may we not appeal to the experience of those who have believed We do not attempt to explain how divine influence operates on the human spirit. We cannot tell how one finite mind holds communion with, and operates on, another finite mind. Who can describe the union and sympathy sub-through grace, and ask, whether your sisting between his own soul and body, or give a satisfactory solution of the ten thousand questions which might be started relative to the natural phenomena and atmospheric influences around us? Who can tell, for example, how dew, to thoughts and desires do not flow as freely now, whether your actions are not as voluntary now, as when you were opposed to the things in which you now delight? Hence you are addressed and exhorted as moral, free, accountable beings. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Cherish habitual reverence of God, and exercise constant jealousy over your own hearts. If the apostle says of himself, "I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway," certainly it behoves us to give heed to ourselves, and to fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into rest, any of us should seem to come short of it. The cultivation of such feelings will, therefore, induce watchfulness and prayer. You will frequent the throne of grace more, and seek more importunately enlarged effusions of that holy and blessed influence of which you will increasingly feel your personal and indispensable need. And, meanwhile, you will watch against every thing that would grieve the Spirit of God and obstruct your growth in grace; and assiduously employ every means by which, under God, that growth may be accelerated and matured, encouraged, as you are, by the assurance that he is always near freely to afford his aid. "For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Bridport. THE MOURNERS COMFORTED. BY THE REV. J. J. DAVIES. "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." THERE is an obvious adaptation in the promise mentioned in this passage to the characters to whom it is given. Jesus promises comfort to the mourners. The mourning of which he speaks does not hinder comfort; it is rather a necessary preparative for its enjoyment. As the setting of a dislocated limb is necessary to ease, as the probing of an old and corrupt wound, however painful the operation, is necessary to its healing, so is godly sorrow for sin necessary to the enjoyment of spiritual health, and of holy consolation. The first work of the Divine Spirit in the recovery of man is to convince him of sin. As the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick, we must be made sensible of our spiritual malady or we shall never avail ourselves of the remedy which the great Physician of souls has VOL. X.-FOURTH SERIES. prepared, and which he freely offers to us in the gospel. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; he came to seek and to save that which was lost; we must, therefore, be made conscious of our helpless and hopeless condition as sinners, or we shall never avail ourselves of the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, but will remain strangers alike to the healing influence of his grace, and to the consolations which he affords his people. Hence, where the Spirit comes, he convinces men of sin. He shows them their real character and condition. When they know this they are filled with apprehension and sorrow; they are pricked to the heart; they loathe themselves; they repent in sackcloth and ashes. This inward sorrow is needful to our 4 K spiritual healing. It is needful as a preparative to the enjoyment of the consolations which Jesus gives to his people. The tears of pious sorrow are often bitter, but they are of medicinal virtue; they contribute to the purification of the soul, and they prepare it for those joys which the unholy cannot realize. None of the tears of these pious mourners are lost; they water the soil of the heart; they prepare it for the seed of the kingdom; they refresh the plants of grace, and cause them to grow and flourish. Yea, there is a luxury in the tears of godly sorrow. Though they are bitter, there is some sweetness in them too. While the heart is unbroken for sin, while the mind is unsubdued to God, and efforts are constantly being made to cover sin, to hide it, if possible, from yourself and from God, what restlessness, what anxiety, do you not experience! You are a stranger to inward peace; your mind is like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, which is continually casting up mire and dirt. But when your mind is subdued, and your spirit is melted in contrition; when you freely confess your sins, and take part with the righteous God even against yourself; when you acknowledge that he has been altogether right, that you have been altogether wrong, and you submit yourself unreservedly to him, then you have peace; you mourn, but you do not murmur; you repent, but you do not repine or rebel; you weep, but through your tears you look confidingly to the mercy-seat; you find that "tears have their own sweetness too," and you realize the truth of the Saviour's words, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." We may here remark, in passing, how different are the ways of religion from the ways of sin. The draughts of sinful pleasure may be sweet to the taste; but afterwards they are bitter as gall, and venomous as the serpent's sting. In the service of sin you begin with joy and you end with sorrow; every pleasure contains in itself the seeds of pain; and your gratifications are only preparing for you the bitter cup of death. But in the service of God, though you sow in tears you will reap in joy. "Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy will come in the morning." Your tears will all be converted into smiles, and your mourning will be turned into dancing. You will have "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." But what is the nature of the consolation of which Jesus speaks in this passage, and which he gives to them that mourn? As it is not every kind of mourning of which our Lord speaks, so neither is it every kind of consol tion that he promises to his people. There are many mourners who will never be comforted, and there is much comfort which Jesus never gives, and which indeed is not worth possessing. There are many who say, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." There are many who have their joys and their raptures, but they are all delusive, and will terminate only in disappointment and distress. It is of great importance, therefore, that we should have right views of the consolations which Jesus promises to them that mourn. Let it be remarked, then, 1. That the consolations of the gospel are always connected with humility. They are the mourners who are comforted; that is, they are those who apprehend the evil of sin and their exposed condition as sinners, and who are therefore bowed down in spirit before their God. We must be stripped of those feelings of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency which are natural to us, before we can enjoy the consola-bly connected with right views of the tions of religion, To the proud they divine character and government, of are never imparted; by them they can the economy of redemption by Christ never be realized, The tendency of our Jesus, of the promises of the gospel, of nature is, unhappily, to abuse every its sacred requirements, and of the thing; and to convert even these con- glorious prospects which it opens to the solations into the food of pride. Paul believing mind, was in danger of being exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations with which he was favoured; and to keep him still humble he had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. But whenever we indulge a spirit of pride and self-sufficiency, we are deprived of these consolations. They grow not on the high hills, but in the lowly valleys. They flourish best beside the waters of affliction, and amidst the tears of penitence. The happy Christian is always the humble Christian; he lives out of himself in Christ. 3. The consolations of the gospel are distinguished by the certainty of their enjoyment. Our Father who is in heaven is the BLESSED GOD; and it is his gracious purpose that his children should be made partakers of the divine nature. God intends that his people should be happy; and he has made the most ample provision for their comfort. He has given them "strong consolation, and a good hope through grace." We do not, indeed, see all tears wiped away, all wounded spirits healed, all mourners comforted. It must, however, be borne in mind that the fault is not in the gospel or in its Author. Jesus came into the world to comfort all that mourn; and if there be any wounds yet bleeding, any broken hearts yet unhealed, any sorrowful spirits yet uncomforted, it is not because he is unable or unwilling to accomplish the purposes of his mission. He can close those bleeding wounds; he can heal those broken hearts; he can soothe and comfort those sorrowful spirits. And there is no reluctance on his part to do this. All mourners are welcome to come to him, and he will not cast them out; but will heal and comfort them. But, alas! there are many who will bear their burdens alone rather than come to Christ that they may find rest unto their souls. 2. The consolations which Jesus gives are characterized by purity. They are essentially holy comforts. They are holy in their nature; and they are holy in their tendency and in their effects. Their author is the Holy Spirit; and all his gracious operations, as they are worthy of himself, so are they like himself; they partake of his own infinitely holy nature. Their subjects are holy beings; men who are renewed in the spirit of their minds. They cannot be enjoyed in connexion with the love of sin. Those who yield to temptation and indulge in sin lose the consolations of religion. Their source is the pure truth of God. They do not originate in false views, in fancies, impulses, and visions. Peaceful emotions, feelings of rapture and ecstatic joy, arising from God is called by the apostle, "the impressions on the imagination, and God of all comfort;" and his gracious growing out of false views, may some- assurance to his people is, "I, even I, times be found in truly pious minds; am he that comforteth you." With but they are perfectly distinct from the more than maternal gentleness and kindconsolations of religion. These are at ness does he do this. "As one whom once enlightened and pure. Their his mother comforteth, so will I comfort source is truth; and they are insepara-you." Who can doubt the certainty of those consolations of which God is the author? Think of his resources. What can he not do? "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask, or even think, according to the power that worketh in us." Think of his promises. What has he not engaged to do? Hath he not said, "I will surely do thee good;" "I will never leave thee, I will never forsake thee?" And think of his faithfulness. None who have trusted in him have been put to shame. He has ever fulfilled his word unto his servants, on which he hath caused them to hope. The Holy Spirit is called emphatically the Comforter. This is one of the offices which he sustains in the economy of redemption; and he is to dwell with his people for ever, not only as a sanctifier and guide, but also as a comforter. "Me," said our Lord, "you have not with you always." And this is equally true of all human instructors and comforters, masters, teachers, friends; we have them not with us always; perhaps when we need them most they are furthest from us. But the spirit of truth and grace may be always with us to sustain and comfort us. in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." His inward life, his real worth and joy, depend not on the circumstances in which he is placed, but on the state of his own heart. The consolations of religion are often realized in the richest abundance when earthly comforts most entirely fail. Their worth is most sensibly felt in affliction and trouble, in sickness and in death. As our afflictions abound, our consolations through Christ do much more abound. And "there is no man who hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more-in inward consolation-in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." All earthly comforts must soon fail. If they follow us through the whole of life, they must leave us in death; and we must go to the world of spirits stripped of every earthly distinetion, and attended simply with our character, our consciousness, and our responsibility. But the consolations of religion never fail. Godliness has the promise not only of the life that now is, but also, and still more abundantly, of that which is to come. I hear the Psalmist say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art within me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.' The apostle exclaims, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." "To depart and to be with Christ is far better." In the near prospect of a violent and ignominious end he triumphs, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me in that 4. Hence it is that the consolations of the gospel are distinguished by their sufficiency and their permanence. In this respect, as well as in every other, they differ essentially from all sources of earthly comfort. These are never satisfying in their nature, while they are always transient in their duration; and, like the brooks which however swollen when the rains are heavy, are dried up in seasons of draught, they are generally most deficient when they are most needed. But the consolations of the gospel are satisfying, while they are enduring; and are most abundantly en-day; and not to me only, but unto all joyed when they are most wanted. They flow from a divine and exhaustless source, and are not dependent on earthly things. “A man's life consisteth not them also that love his appearing." And no heart can conceive what God hath prepared for his people above. They have their streams of comfort |