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"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” "All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” "It pleased the Lord to bruise him: he hath put him to grief." And now he declares, “I am wellpleased for my righteousness' sake." "Now, then,

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we are ambassadors for God, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." God waits your answer, -he has waited long, and spared you in the midst of your ungrateful rebellion until this moment, and now he still is crying, "Daughter, give me thine heart." "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my Father?" "Is it possible that he died for me ?" cried dear mother; my was all this for me?" "All for you, my dear friend," said the man of God. "This is the gospel, or good news, which the Lord Jesus commanded us to preach to every creature, therefore to you. It is he who assures you of this, and he cannot lie. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.' 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin!' so that yours is safely included in all sin!” "But

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I have never done anything for God," cried my mother. "That is true," cried the good evangelist, with whom at last she had met, "but this is the gift of God, and he commands you to take it without money and without price. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.' 'Behold the

Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.'" My mother's heart was almost bursting. Sometimes she blessed and praised God,-again, she "looked upon him whom she had pierced, and mourned for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and was in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born."

"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,

And did my Sovereign die?

Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I ?"

"Worm," said she, "

"no! that is an innocent thing-for such a wretch as I." Her thirsty soul no sooner tasted the living water, than she drank one deep, long draught, and thirsted no more for ever.

THE LOVE OF JESUS.

Ye ransomed of Jesus,
Come sing of his love;

He stooped down to raise us
To mansions above.

Jehovah on him our transgressions did lay,
And he bore the huge burden, and bore it away.

Sin's bondage was bitter,

And heavy its chain;
But Christ took the fetter

And snapped it in twain!

The strong one was bound, and the captive set free,
When he fell back in triumph, and died on the tree.

To him what a treasure

Of blessings we owe!

For there thrills not a pleasure

But pierced him with woe!

Our blessings on earth, and our glory above,
Shot many a pang through that bosom of love!

Hosannah to Jesus!

He bore all our pains :

The ransom that frees us

Was pressed from his veins;

The blood for our cleansing, the balm for our smart,
Were great drops of agony wrung from his heart.

Each drop in the garden,

Each stream from the tree,
Proclaims a full pardon,

O sinner, for thee!

Not vengeance-like that which once cried from the ground,
But an accent of love, a sweet jubilee sound.

With love and with pity
Christ's heart overflows;

He wept o'er the city,

He prayed for his foes:

He could not exclaim "It is finished!" and die,
Till "Father, forgive them!" was wafted on high.

Then praise be to Jesus!

Each day let it swell;
He died to release us

From sin and from hell;

May it spread through creation, above and around,

Till all her vast temple re-echo the sound.

Glasgow.

REV. J. GUTHRIE.

CHAPTER VII.

BEULAH.

"Awake, On orth wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out."-Can. iv. 16.

A CHANGE has passed upon the character of my remembrances. I behold a bed-chamber, endeared to me by a thousand associations, yet hitherto the scene of many sighs and tears, with prayers choked in the utterance, and ascending as incense which has left the censer. Now that same chamber is redolent with the fragrance of the myrtle, the rose, and the lily; sweet smelling myrrh dropped from the handles of the lock. The odours of the balm

of Gilead perfumed the air. A purer light than that from the glories of ten thousand summers penetrated to the recesses of the room-it is the light of Heaven. "For, lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." "Beauty had been given for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." "I held him (Jesus), and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my

mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.' Draw nigh with me, ye votaries of the world, and contemplate this scene. A little child, concealed behind the ample folds of the curtains, is hiding her tearful face, and suppressing her very breath, lest she should lose a word, uttered by that voice of touching sweetness to which she listens. But her tears are tears of joy. Her father, with a relieved mind, traceable in every line upon his brow, sits also hidden behind the footcurtains of the bed, recording the precious words now falling from the lips of their beloved one, to whom the name of Jesus was as ointment poured forth. "Oh! blessed Jesus; oh! precious Saviour! Oh! how I lament that I did not know my dear Saviour sooner! I can see nothing but vanity and wickedness in all my past life. What a vain world is this! and yet, oh! how I have admired it, even while it was stealing my heart from that devotion which I ought to have paid to thee. Oh! blessed Christ! Oh! blessed Christ! and I-a wicked worm. How often hadst thou called me and I would not hear! Oh! how great has been thy loving-kindness! and, oh! how awful my indifference! And yet didst thou die for me. I have found thee whom my soul loveth, and I will not let thee go!" The nurse now enters along with a dear sister, and they remove her from the bed to an easy chair. As she passes the toilet-glass, an involuntary exclamation of surprise escapes her. Her kind friends are at first alarmed, but soon relieved again, as they hear her thus soliloquise-"Ah! no matter; my Saviour's precious face was more marred than any man's; and that for me." And then, in tones almost

she sang,

"As sweet as angels use,"

"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,
And did my Sovereign die ?"

Her friends, unable to suppress their tears, are weeping. "Ah! weep not for me," exclaimed my mother, "I shall soon be with Him whom my soul loveth.'

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My dear mother lay on the confines of the eternal world, after her realisation of her Saviour's love, for about three months. It was a time of great purification; a time of sanctification; a time of meetening for the illustrious society of which she would so shortly become a member. She had been of the earth-earthly; she had now to become holy and heavenly. Her delights had been centered in a world that passeth away with the lust thereof;— she had loved that world. And now she was called to set her affections on things above, and not on the things on the earth. She had lived in the smile of her husband; she had idolised him; and now she had to learn to keep herself from idols, and to live in His favour, which is life, and His loving-kindness, which is better than life. The chief aim of her existence had been the health and earthly happiness of her children. She had now to learn to bow submissively to the stroke of separation, and to part from them even in death. In fine, she had to learn, in the full import of the words, the prayer, "Thy will, not mine, be done!" And how was it all to be effected? Simply by keeping in memory that which she now knew, viz., that God is Love. In the full realisation of that blessed truth, how easy to cry, "Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in thy sight!"

It was an interesting spectacle to her Christian friends, to stand by and watch the process of her refining. There was much dross to be removed, and much gold to remain uninjured. She lay passively in the test; the furnace fires burnt furiously, but the Great Refiner, intently watching the process, was supplying every necessary ingredient,

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