Well, this salvation, and this holy calling, are not according to our works, but according to God's purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Salvation, in all its bearings, is according to God's own purpose and grace, secured in Christ before time. Thanks be to God for that. All we feel and fear; all our sins and woes; all our darkness and deadness; loathsomeness and vileness, cannot alter God's purpose and grace, which is secured in Christ. Remember, poor, tried, tempted, tossed-about sinner, it is of God's grace, yea, God's purposed grace. Thy miseries tend to prove that this glorious salvation, this holy calling, are just what thou needest-just suited to thee; and it is God's own purpose to call thee to the sweet participation of them. They are thine by the solemn purpose and free grace grant of a covenant God; and each glorious Person in the one undivided Jehovah takes pleasure in putting thee in possession of it. The time will come when thy Lord will say to thee, "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desclate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee; and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee;" "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.' (Isa. lxii. 4, 5; Zeph. iii. 17.) The glorious marriage of the Lamb and his wife will very soon be consummated in everlasting bliss and blessedness, and "Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Rev. xix. 9.)

That the Lord may from day to day be graciously pleased to grant to his saved, called children much of his presence and love, is the prayer of

Angust, 1835.

A SOLDIER.

BLIND AND DEAF.

"Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not."-Isaiah xlii. 19, 20.

How readily do those who are in the service of sin obey the lusts of the flesh, in the doing of every kind of wickedness! Their heart delights in it, their whole mind is engaged in it.

their every member is subservient to the accomplishing of it, and they rush impetuously forward to their end. They have no counter principle to stay them in their course, no inclination to swerve from that whereunto they have put their hands, or to question whether what they are doing is right or wrong.

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Far different is it with the child of God. He often feels divine worship a task from which his lifeless soul would gladly shrink. His heart is cold, and his mind afar off from his Lord. Yea, his whole soul appears as though alienated from him, and separated from all communion with him; and though Christ "knock at the door," he will not arise to let him in, till he puts his finger through the hole in the door, and stirs love in the heart. (Cant. v. 4.) O then, may we not say, Who is deaf as my servant?' Neither do we confine ourselves to one Lord, as the wicked do; for we often attempt to serve both God and Mammon, and, like Naaman the Syrian, we like to be forgiven, if we bow down in the temple of Rimmon, to curry favour with an earthly king. We resolve to offer neither burnt-offerings nor sacrifices unto idols, and, Surely this one thing may be forgiven us;" but as certainly as we are left to take this liberty, the Lord will chasten and reprove us.

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Surely the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light; for while they eagerly pursue that which they deem to be good, we, at times, for a season, turn our backs on Him whom we know to be the Author of every good and perfect gift.

How great, then, must be his love, to love such as these, who are 66 more brutish than any men," who, if left to their own will, would at once reject his love, and who, even after they have tasted that he is gracious, will turn aside to gratify the flesh, and to indulge worldly pleasures and vain delights. Nevertheless, for this he will visit their iniquities with stripes, and their transgressions with a rod,-not to destroy them, nor yet to exact that punishment which a broken law demands (for that is already paid in their Surety); but as a father, who chasteneth every son whom he loveth. He does it to bring them back to the right way, and to manifest to them his displeasure at the sinful course they have indulged in, and to cause them to abhor it, as well as themselves.

There is a continual warfare between the flesh and the spirit, which will be maintained until this earthly tabernacle is dissolved. It is the old man, who, though he may be occasionally "put off," can never be entirely got rid of on this side of grave, and who can never live in peace with the new man,

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but keeps up a continual struggle for the dominion; and such being the state of things, our knowledge of, and mourning over, the deep depravity of our hearts, is a proof of our being born again. Our repeated transgressions show the sinfulness of our nature, but it is a godly sorrow on account thereof which proves there to be a principle of grace within. The former is our shame, the latter our glory. Our nature is the cause of every evil, and the principle of grace of every good, we do.

We are deaf to the promises, of ourselves: we can no more hear them spoken unto us than can a deaf man hear another talk, unless it please the Holy Spirit to take of them, and show them unto us, making it clear that they are ours; and even the promises of which we have realized the sweet power, we soon become deaf to again, until they are again applied by the Holy Spirit.

We are blind to the excellency of Christ: we see not that “ he is the altogether lovely, and the chief among ten thousand." It is true, we have at times some slight glimmer of these things; but, compared with the fulness thereof we shall see hereafter, we may say we see darkly; and yet we ofttimes see enough to rejoice our hearts, and make us long to depart, and be with him for ever, there to see him as he is. Every sight we have of him here, must be given us of the Spirit, for we can discern nothing heavenly of ourselves. And O how compassionate he is thus to provide for us, and supply our wants, giving eyes to the blind, and hearing to the deaf. (Isa. xliii. 8.) How kind thus to bear with all our infirmities, conducting us safe on our way towards Canaan's land, correcting our every deviation from the right path, with a father's parental tenderness, drawing us with the cords of love, so that we run after him, and giving us the Comforter, to abide with us for ever! O that he may enable us to pass triumphantly over the Jordan of death, from this drear wilderness to that blessed land where we shall hear, see, and sing his glory and his love in all eternity.

London, August, 1835.

VERICOLA.

ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The covenant transactions of the Holy Trinity, before time began, inspire the mind of a child of God with holy awe, and furnish him with matter on which he may meditate with ever-growing delight; for, as the streams of salvation are

very pleasant, the fountain-head must be delightful. It will be admitted by every true believer, that the great redeeming work is the most interesting of all subjects, where God the Son appeared incarnate, under the heavy load of the church's transgressions, and exposed to the fierce heat of the Father's ire; sweating, bleeding, groaning, gasping, dying, and altogether presenting such a prodigy of condescension, tenderness, and love, as can never be equalled.

To the Lord's servants these are delightful themes; neither must the work of the blessed Spirit be disregarded; for who would expect to obtain the treasures locked up in a certain cabinet, without the key?

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Any simple Christian knows, that the Holy Ghost is God, and that, as a person distinct from the Father and the Son, he is to be loved and worshipped. But upon his work in the soul of an elect vessel, I observe that, as a dead man can perform none of the functions of animal life, so no natural man can perform a single spiritual act; because, all natural men are dead in trespasses and sins. (Ephes. ii. 1.) Without the sovereign operations of the blessed Spirit, not a child of Adam can take one step into heaven, any more than a dead man can walk. Except a man be born again, from above, of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. The new birth" is altogether supernatural. The work of conviction, quickening, conversion, regeneration, and perseverance, is wholly of free, sovereign grace, by the power of the Holy Ghost alone. I have observed that many of the Lord's people have natural convictions from their childhood; by these, the Lord restrains them, and in due time shows them that Ephraim's goodness is as the morning cloud and the early dew. Some of the family have much deeper convictions than others have; but all of them are, sooner or later, convinced of sin. The Spirit always wounds a man before he heals him. He brings either the letter or the spirit of the law, or both, into the conscience; thereby enforcing its authority, its convincing and condemning power, and gradually making known its spirituality. The wakened sinner now feels sin to be a heavy burden, and learns its exceeding sinfulness. At first he is for promising, working, believing, repenting, &c., in his own skill and might; but at length, his legal toiling ceases, because he can do no more, and get no farther; his feet stick fast in the miry clay, and he finds he can neither work, believe, nor repent. His will is seen to be enmity to God, his works unclean and dead, and his natural faith inferior to the faith of devils. His wisdom is from beneath-earthly, sensual, and devilish; his

righteousness, filthy rags; his holiness, corruption; he can obtain neither money, nor money's worth. He sees, feels, and owns before God and man that he is for ever lost and undone, unless he be saved by free, unmerited grace, and by divine power alone. The true gospel market-cry, alone, suits him now, "Without money and without price, come buy! come buy!" The work of quickening is done by the Holy Ghost, perhaps in an instant of time. From that moment, there is a new nature in the image of Christ; there is every fruit of the Spirit, in the bud of spiritual existence-faith, hope, love, &c.; but then grace implanted is so delectably small, that a man had need of a microscope to see it. It is but a very little spark, yet we might challenge the world or Satan to come and put the extinguisher upon it. This living principle is very weak, but the soul has a vital union to Jesus, in whom there is a comprehensive fulness of all-sufficient grace. The quickened soul sees, feels, and hears, as he never did before. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the attention of the soul begins to settle_upon Christ, who is at first seen at a distance, as the Star of Judah, that presages to the lonely pilgrim the approach of a brighter morning; but his feeble vision is obscured by the mists of ignorance and unbelief, that this bright appearance is seen only now and then. From the first discovery of this sweet Morning Star, hope rises. The Spirit of God (as by a soul whisper) says, "Who can tell?" The soul, still doubting, says, "That cannot be for me:" again the sweet whisper is heard, "Who can tell?" The hard heart softens, and the water stands in the poor man's eyes. He feels a desire to read the written word, and now and then goes up a prayer, "Lord I am a poor blind man, open thou mine eyes; I am a most miserable sinner, have mercy upon me. As the man reads over an awful threatening or a dreadful curse, There," says

the enemy,

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"that belongs to thee;" conscience falls in with it, and the soul trembles. He sees and feels the necessity of being born again, and prays for it; as Mr. Hart says,

"We pray to be new-born,
Yet know not what we mean;
We think it something very great,
Something that's undiscovered yet."

By the inward teaching of the Spirit, the way of salvation is a little opened unto this man, perhaps by means of those blessed words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," He meditates on Christ, and his meditation is sweet! The name of Jesus is savour to his heart, and music to his soul;