our souls. Sin dwelling in us, assists Satan in his operations; yet the promise exceeds the temptation; " nothing shall by any means hurt you;" so that the warfare is not a trial of skill between good and evil, but a salutary resistance of the Spirit to the will of the flesh. Faith being an active principle, is exercised in vanquishing opponents. We are apt to think that the possesssion of faith will keep us happy in our feelings; this is founded on an idea that our feelings themselves are spiritual; whereas, they are brought to the test of a divine principle, and found to be changeable as vanity; our feelings will shrink from that very encounter, which will call forth the strength of our faith. Thus from constant variance between the mind of the Spirit, and the mind of the flesh, "we grow faint while pursuing." All contention creates distress, but it teaches us where our weakness lies; it proceeds from ourselves, "within are fears," and it shows us that grace controuls nature into subjection; places it under divine influence, and moving within the orbit of God's good pleasure. Nature is subjugated, but never converted.

Regeneration is not a faculty, but the gift of

a spiritual being in Christ; the bestowment of which instantly reveals our polluted life in Adam; and as light is emitted from one, it discovers the hidden things of darkness which belong to the other. This view solves a difficulty which is apt to perplex young believers; how it originates, that they experience deeper convictions of sin, as they advance in scriptural knowledge. On first reception of the gospel, our heart is so captivated by the joyful sound, we are like those that dream. Salvation-redemption-holiness-blessed on earth, and glorified through all eternity; these are expressions which waft the perfumes of heaven upon our soul; we breathe an atmosphere of grace, and are nourished with food which angels bring to feast our hopes; "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them which shall be heirs of salvation ?"-Heb. i. 14.

In the early participation of these mercies, our natural sensibility is more awakened than our spirituality; because our enjoyment arises out of the felicity felt, and anticipated by ourselves; and inasmuch as the principle of this fervour declines from the great end of godliness, (the manifestation of Jehovah's glory,) it is

diluted by an admixture of inherent selfishness. In the infancy of grace, personal pardon and future eternal happiness, form our themes of praise; in its growth and maturity, to see the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, is the pursuit of our expanding understanding.

How intricate, yet how important are the adventures of the soul! Satan supports his regal usurpation by the prevalence of darkness, so dense that it may be felt! Were we walking through the mausoleums of a thousand years, the ghastly spectacle in all its drear and terrific silence, is but an emblem of that relentless power which holds our spirits in bondage. We are phantoms of creatureship, tending every instant towards that total corruption which shall pulverize our entire frame into its own -mass. Natural death, in its state and in its universality, resembles the author of all evil; and no portrait can better personify the enemy of mankind, than that cold and grasping spectre, which delivers our bodies to the worm, while in that "very hour all our thoughts perish;" forcible similitude of the prince of darkness, who makes captive the will of man, serving himself of our mental faculties, enslaving the

body which enchases them; while the life of the spirit is closed in a long night of trespasses and sins.

If it can be, that any victim of the tomb shall be reanimated within its sepulchral abode, the first cry of that hapless wretch would be the echo of the same voice which an awakening spirit utters on its resurrection from the death of sin, "What shall I do to be saved?" Who can unloose these bars? Who can roll away this great stone? What arm can pull me out of this horrible association with all that is polluted and dreadful? This exceeding bitter cry is an early assurance of renewed existence, and it is as truly an acknowledgment of utter helplessness; it is more than an acknowledgment; it is the perception of our utterly undone condition. Let us realise the image a little further, and imagine that in such a situation, this prisoner of the grave shall find his prison door flung open, himself conducted beyond the tremendous barrier, and placed not only within sights, and sounds of gladness, but in everlasting security!

I was once a captive, locked within the territories of evil; I once knew the transition

from death unto life, and felt the awful debasement into which I was plunged. The shriek for mercy ran through every avenue of my soul; and it might have died away amid the ruined vestige, had not one like unto the Son of Man listened for the sound, and answered, "Here am I;" then was the valley of bitterness converted into a place of refreshment. I learnt the Lord's songs in my low estate, and sing them as I traverse the wildering paths of my pilgrimage.

On the consecrated morning already mentioned, I anxiously joined myself to a company of supplicants, who were met to celebrate the praises of their Redeemer within the walls of an adjacent church; having been previously impressed by the testimony given to the vicar's scriptural doctrines, and affectionate delivery of his commission. I accepted an offered seat under preparation of prayer, for an abundant blessing on the appointed means. found the advantage of carrying the Lord's promises to himself for payment. "Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." These words convey no conditional meaning, as

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