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he hungers for living bread, thirsts for living water, and cries unto God, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." Before a throne of grace he pleads, as a poor starving beggar, who has got the palsy in his head, hands, and feet, and withal an impediment in his speech. Pharisees may boast of their fine ready-made forms; this man thinks there is more melody in the croaking of a raven than there is beauty in his prayers; and that, according to his deservings, he is more fit to burn in hell, than to stand pleading before a mercy-seat. Sometimes he is so surrounded with darkness, he cannot see an inch before him; then "the shining light," appears again. he seems farther from hope than ever; again his hope rises, he can hardly tell how. Now his desires are burning hot for heaven; then he is cold, or lukewarm, and almost without feeling. Now he thinks he is out of the reach of God's mercy; then a gleam of sunshine softens and melts him. Now he fears he has committed the unpardonable sin; then he hopes he has not. Sometimes the promises are sweet; and some

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times he can derive no sweetness from them. The time of deliverance is always preceded by a time of great perplexity, as in a morning it is often darkest before sunrise. The captive exile sits in his solitary cell, immersed in darkness, despondency, sin, and woe, when suddenly his prison doors grate or their hinges; he lifts up his head, and, by faith, sees the great Redeemer, the glory of whose countenance quite overcomes him, and his comeliness turns to corruption. He falls at Christ's feet as dead. When he comes to himself, he hears the voice of Jesus, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am he that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death." 'Lord I am a great sinner," says the man. My blood cleanses from all sin," says Jesus. "But I am so polluted," says the sinner. "Be not faithless, but believing," replies the condescending Saviour. Now the Holy Spirit applies the blood of sprinkling to the sinner's conscience, casts the glorious robe of Jesus around him, stamps his image on the soul, and works his salvation in the heart. The man has now the answer of a good conscience towards God; there is no guilt upon it, his sins are pardoned and his soul is freed from all burdens, fears, and bondage. The way of life is thrown open; the Captain goes forth; the bands of sin, Satan, and the law, are undone! Who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?" Abounding grace, eternal mercy, covenant love, and the living influence of the Spirit, make the soul like a well-watered garden! the man's cup runs over with blessings;

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the light of Christ shines into his heart and upon his path; he is surrounded with mercies of all kinds; the Father smiles upon his regenerated son; the Holy Ghost charms him with his sweet fellowship, and Christ looks upon him a look of ineffable love, and says, "Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." He enjoys pardon and peace with God; he is manifestatively justified, sanctified, and saved, in Christ. A sweet savour, and a heavenly melody, fill his breast; he can keep silence no longer; his heart and his harp, like those of David of old, are now in tune, and of a solemn sound. The redeemed sinner, melting into tears of love, joy, and gratitude, calls upon the whole creation, and especially upon every thing that has breath, to assist him in adoring the God of his salvation: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless and praise his holy name. O wonder of love," says he; "O amazing miracle of matchless grace, that ever thou shouldst look upon, that ever thou shouldst save, such a wretch as I am." This man shuns the way of sin and error, and for a time the enemy seems to lie as still as a stone, and the pardoned sinner finds it easy to believe, to repent, and to cleave to God with full purpose of heart, and feels that he is a great debtor to grace. The love of Christ constrains him; his bodily and mental powers are by the Spirit consecrated to the service of God; he lies all day at the gospel breast; the yoke of Christ sits easy on his neck; his burden is no burden at all. His simple rule is love; so that he cannot walk much amiss. Halleluia, Amen! O sacred season! May those who have experienced it look back to it with pleasure; and may those who really desire it look forward to it, with humble, but confident expectation. "Now, when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time of love," &c. (To be continued.)

MAN'S SIN HIS OWN GUILTY ACT AND DEED, AND HIS HEART BEING INCLINED THEREUNTO, SCRIPTURALLY CONSIDERED.

"Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity."-Psalm cxli. 4.

The words before us constitute a part of the Psalmist's supplication to the God of his salvation, in which we have his petition that the Lord would not incline his heart to evil; and the reason why he made such a request, namely, that he might not practise wicked works with men that work iniquity. What

a solemn appeal to God! The curious and inquiring mind may ask, Do you then believe the Lord inclines a sinner's heart to sin? I answer, Yes, in a certain sense he does, or else the prayer appears but a solemn mockery of words, without any suitable meaning. But if we seriously read the Psalm throughout, we shall find the whole of it to be a composed and deliberate breathing of the soul in prayer to God; and we are assured that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God; and that therein holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Tim. iii. 16; 2 Pet. i. 21.)

But as the declaration I have made is of such solemn importance, and as our reasonable powers by the utmost stretch of human wisdom faint, and are but foolishness, beneath the magnitude of the righteous interpretation of so awful and momentous a truth; may the Holy Spirit, to the declarative glory of God, so direct and influence my heart and mind, by comparing scripture with scripture, as on the one hand to make use of what he enables me to think and write to quiet some distressed and doubtful heart among his own people; and on the other, if possible, to stop the mouths of gainsayers, who will not admit the truth in question before us, unless God be the author of their sin.

Does the heart of the true believer tremble within him in exercise of thought upon the momentous subject? So has mine, till I felt my spirit sink within me. Nor are we without scripture proof to the same effect in the history of Jacob and Esau.

What I have in view is the blessing of Isaac upon his son Jacob; and perhaps it may not be unprofitable to enlarge a little upon so solemn a subject. It appears that Rebekah, the mother of Esau and Jacob, overheard the charge given to Esau, by Isaac his father, to go out and hunt for venison, and make savoury meat such as he loved, that he might bless him before the Lord, before his death. Rebekah, in the conception of Esau and Jacob, felt the struggle of the two children even in her womb, before they were born; and the effect upon her feeling was so amazing, that she could not rest until she went to inquire of the Lord, who assured her, that two nations were in her womb, and that two manner of people should be separated from her bowels; that the one people should be stronger than the other people, and the elder should serve the younger. (Gen. xxv. 23.) This, I have no doubt, sufficiently and effectually influenced the heart of Rebekah, to have a special and decided affection for Jacob, in preference to Esau whom Isaac loved; and to keep a pretty steady watch over the blessing, which, by birthright, according to God's command, be

longed to Esau. (Deut. xxi. 17.) After Isaac had given his charge to Esau to hunt for venison, Rebekah calls Jacob, tells him what she had heard, and bids him go to the flock and get two kids, and she would make savoury meat such as his father loved, that so she might transfer the blessing from Esau to Jacob, contrary to the intention of his father. Jacob dreads the experiment, for as Esau was a hairy man, and himself a smooth man, his father, though blind, yet, by feeling him, would detect the imposition, and instead of bringing down & blessing upon himself, would have his father's curse.

Jacob's

remonstrance with Rebekah, his mother, proves of no avail; and to silence all objections, as if confident of success, tells him, "Upon me be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice, and go fetch me them." What a spirit of simplicity and grandeur upon so momentous a subject, is couched in these words of Rebekah! Jacob disputes the matter no further, but fetches the kids: his mother makes savoury meat such as Isaac loved, clothes him with Esau's garments, and puts the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck. Thus accoutred, she gave him the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, and sent him to his father.

"And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn: I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me." Isaac doubts the truth of what he heard, and asks him, how it was he found it so quickly? To which Jacob replies, "Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." Upon this Isaac calls Jacob near unto him, that he might feel him whether indeed he were his very son Esau or not. By which it appears he strongly questioned the truth of what he heard; for his heart was fully intent upon giving the blessing to Esau, which he knew, by seniority of birth, was his right. When Jacob went near to Isaac, he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And not being able by sight to discern him, because his hands were hairy like Esau's, he blessed him; but not before he expressly put the question to Jacob, "Art thou my very son Esau?" To which he replied, "I am." As soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and before he was scarce got out of the presence of his father, came Esau his brother in from his hunting: who also had made savoury meat, and brought it to his father, and said, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me." And

Isaac said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. Upon this Isaac trembled exceedingly, or as the margin of the Bible reads, trembled with a great trembling greatly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and I have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. What a solemn history have we here! How confounding to our reasonable notions of right and wrong! It affords much scope for comment, but I can enlarge but little. That the Lord designed the blessing for Jacob is evident, from the Lord's own mouth to Rebekah, for thus runs the testimony of Scripture: "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand; not of works but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger." (Rom. ix. 11, 12; Gen. xxv. 23.) Rebekah understood the prophecy, and her affections were anxiously on the look out for its accomplishment: and as there appeared now no human probability to Rebekah but that the blessing inevitably must be Esau's, and that a few moments' delay would lose the blessing to her beloved Jacob for ever, she invents a stratagem of deception and falsehood, which she communicates to Jacob, and gets him to put into execution: and to our reasonable view of things, as the highest pitch of aggravation to the whole, Jacob appeals to the Great Searcher of hearts, the Lord himself, as having aided him in the haste he had used, and as being under his blessing and immediate direction therein. (To be continued.)

A TRIED SINNER.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE GOSPEL STANDARD.

Sirs,-As the apostle of old said, so I must say,- -"Such as I have, give I unto you." At the best, it will be too much mixed with sin; for I daily find it as Paul said, “When I would do good, evil is present with me." Ah, sirs! could you but see what a nest of unclean things there is in this heart of mine, I am sure you would say, "Thou art vile indeed!" I sometimes think that so vile a wretch as I feel myself to be, cannot belong to that happy people of whom it is said, "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Nevertheless, at other times I hope that I have a precious Christ, more precious than I can describe to you. Then again, such coldness, such indifference, such un

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