The same exercise of divine sovereignty is observable, and as much beyond the comprehension of man, in regard to the fact, that many are not only called, but ripened and taken home, whilst others remain on pilgrimage, and are called to wage a ceaseless and an uninterrupted and laborious warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Many a wearied warrior and many a crippled and limping pilgrim are left on the field, or toiling o'er the desert pathway, whilst the younger and the apparently stronger and more courageous are taken hence, and that without one tithe of the labour or the buffeting or the deadly conflict. Ah, why is this? "Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in Thy sight."

But the poor man at the pool of Bethesda had the blessing at last. It was late, but not too late. He had waited long, but not too long. And, moreover, it was the better for the waiting. But for his long and anxious watching and wishing, the boon would not have been nearly so great nor so valued. Those who came later and left earlier than he, did not nearly so much esteem the cure they had received. It was the long continuance of the malady, it was the many disappointments he had met with, it was the fact, that he had come and gone without avail week after week and month after month and year after year, that at last magnified the grace, and enriched the love, and endeared the person of that great, gracious, and glorious Deliverer, who at length said, and that so unexpectedly but so effectually, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And the self-same mercy shall be yours, ye waiting, watching, wrestling ones. In His own time and in His own sovereign way the same Almighty One will say of the sin-burdened one, "Loose him and let him go," or to His worn and weary pilgrim, "Thou hast compassed this mount long enough: go up higher."

St. Luke's, Bedminster, Nov. 9, 1868.

THE EDITOR,

ALONE WITH JESUS.

ALONE with Jesus, oh, how sweet

To leave earth's cares behind;
And at the hallowed mercy-seat
Salvation's joy to find!
Oh, let me ever long to be,
My dearest Lord, alone with Thee.

Alone with Jesus, as I pace

The busy haunts of men; Sometimes the whispers of His grace

I've heard, and answered then: Oh, Jesus, let me ever be,

At home, abroad, alone with Thee.

Alone with Jesus, far away

Upon the pebbly strand;

The brightest day, dear Lord, to

me,

Is when I am alone with Thee.
Alone with Jesus, when the night
Hath closed around my bed;
And visions from the world of light
Come floating round my head:
The darkest hour is light to me,
When I'm alone, dear Lord, with
Thee.

Alone with Jesus let me close

This life's tempestuous war:
How blest in Jesus to repose,
And wake on Canaan's shore;

When wide the beams of opening day To dwell throughout eternity,

Are flung o'er sea and land:

Scarborough.

But not alone, dear Lord, with Thee.
W. S. ROBINSON.

Wayside Notes.

A SUFFICIENCY IN CHRIST.

"My people shall be satisfied."-JER. xxxi. 14.

BELOVED, we are compelled always to preface our "Notes" with prayer, because we feel that to feed in any little measure the flock of God is no light matter. Throughout this day our cry has been, "Now, dear Lord, unfold some fresh truth to us. It is for Thine own we desire it: disappoint us not." This evening's post brought us a letter from an aged and afflicted pilgrim, and the following expressions therein touched the right chord in our hearts: "I am getting very feeble and infirm as to my body, but daily find a sufficiency in Christ' to refresh my weary soul, and bear me up amidst the sinkings of heart and flesh. Bless the Lord for all His faithful loving care to such a worm." Ah, reader! there is a reality in a religion that will support when infirmities creep on and eternity draws near. it was those words, "a sufficiency in Christ," that seemed to drop both unction and power on the heart as we folded up the letter, and said, "That will do." We know that, to the worldling, such a course of things would be an absurdity; but we care not for the world's view of matters. It is for the "my people" we write. Lord, melt the heart and guide the pen, and bring honour to Thine own great name. Now

But

1st. The world cannot give satisfaction, not even to those who live only for it; for instance, take wealth. Who is there that says, "I have enough and am satisfied?" Or carnal pleasure. Does it bring into a state of quietude? Far from it; those who thirst for it are kept in a feverish state of anxiety, and are never satisfied. Or, again, fame. Can that bring peace? We know one who has arrived at the object of his ambition, namely, to become "a Member of Parliament," who assured us he was a happier man by far when he moved in a much more humble and lowly sphere. And then it is when sickness comes, that the hollow pretensions of the world are discovered, as the Scriptures say, concerning the wicked, "Then, in the fulness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits." We have seen the ungodly man in such straits; as far as the comforts, and even luxuries, of life are concerned, he had but to request and have: but, with disease of body and eternity in view, of what avail were they all then? The man was in terrible straits, "Oh, I'm as good as my neighbour, I owe no man anything." But conscience told him a different tale, leaving him to plunge against God's will like a bull in a net. But then, if we pass from the world to soul-concerns, what can bring peace into the soul? The Pope of Rome says, Come into the embrace of the Holy Catholic Church; therein is peace. Note the words of his Apostolic letter addressed to all Protestants: "Incited by charity I cannot refrain from exhorting Christians being not Catholic to examine it that they follow the path of salvation traced by Christ," and adds that the sects separated from Roman Catholicism, being deprived of the supreme authority established by God, have always changed their doctrines, while the Church instituted by God possesses the truth, which is not liable to change. The Pope urges Protestants to avail themselves of the Council to re-enter the church to which their forefathers belonged, and ends by saying, that he wishes that return most ardently, and prays God to that effect day and night. So the Pope of Rome would have us believe that "the path of sal

ration traced by Christ" consists of the adoration of saints, the worshipping of images, a belief in transubstantiation, and the rest of its false dogmas, and, after all this, a passing through purgatory. Away with such a salvation! What a mercy, reader, that you and I have not so learned Christ. And does all this mummery bring peace and satisfaction? Nay, far otherwise; once enthralled, their sisters and nuns profess a kind of peace, but, if the heart could tell out the truth, in many a case it but covers an aching void, and an inward misery of life.

""Tis vain to seek for creature aid,

To calm the troubled mind;

But, when on Christ our sins are laid,
What sacred rest we find.

And this brings us to note that

"And I saw ""

:

There is a sufficiency in Christ for salvation, and in no other.-"It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment." We often make appointments, but sickness, and even death, sometimes intervenes, and we are unable to keep them; but here is one made by God Himself, and therefore it will be most certainly carried out. There is no getting away from it; "It is appointed unto men once to die." Death stalks into the palace, as well as into the cottage, cuts down a prince of the realm as well as a pauper in the workhouse. "And after death the judgment." No annihilation as some would have us believe, but judgment. (says John, in his revelation of things that should come to pass) "a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Now if this be so, that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment,"-and not one of us can get out of it, but will have to face it-what is to be done? We reply, Be prepared! But how? Here we must go back to the doctrine of the fall, because, if wrong here, we are wrong everywhere. Adam fell; by his disobedience all his posterity were ruined. "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men; for that all have sinned." There can be no mistake here. And is there no remedy? Oh, yes: "If through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." Has it abounded unto me? "God gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Do you believe in Him? are you trusting in His finished work for the salvation of your soul? " Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." So that faith is not the procuring cause of regeneration, but the fruit and effect of the new birth. And what is the culminating point of this life, of which faith is an evidence? "Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Then if he is "born again," he shall "enter into the kingdom of heaven." But will he not stand a chance of being lost by the way? There is no chance in the matter; all is certainty. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and

they shall never perish." Is there not, then, dear reader, a sufficiency in Christ for the salvation of the soul? In Him, judgment is done away with to the believer. The white throne, it is true, will appear; but his Substitute and Surety will be there, and "there is now," even now, "therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ"-"ye are complete in Him." And then

There is a sufficiency in Christ for the minister of the Gospel.-Those who are engaged in the Lord's service (His own sent messengers) will understand us when we say there are times of felt leanness, when the servant of the Lord has fears and forebodings as to what he shall bring before the people; and he is brought into such a felt poverty of soul that all he can do is to throw himself into the hands of the Spirit, and cry, "Lord, undertake for me." Such are generally, after all, his best seasons; for God brings strength out of perfect weakness, and at the close of the Sabbath day he is obliged to acknowledge there is indeed a sufficiency in Christ. Well do we recollect in a season of leanness telling our fears to an aged minister of Christ, who, pointing upwards, exclaimed, "My brother, recollect there is plenty in the Head." And so we have ever found it. There is plenty in Him, "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

Some of God's ministers have possibly to preach upwards of one hundred and fifty sermons in the year, and such will bear me out in the assertion, "Christ is all-sufficient." What other subject would bear one hundred and fifty sermons preached upon it? but Christ and Him crucified is an inexhaustible theme, and weak is that servant who seeks for any other to bring before the people.

And then not merely has preacher found a blessed sufficiency in Christ, but so has the Spirit-taught hearer. How often has one in being called to engage in prayer felt cold and tongue-tied; it is as if one could utter nothing but broken sentences before the Lord. But presently one begins, through the precious influence of the Holy Spirit, to draw from the fulness of Christ: words flow, hearts respond, cases are truly represented, and it is felt to be a hallowed opportunity. Is it not, beloved, the case that when such seasons are realized the Christian has felt in a prayermeeting more joy and solid comfort than ever he could obtain from any worldly pleasure in his days of unregeneracy? And, when the Lord melts his spirit,

"A peace that cheers his heart
Lifts him above the earth;

Bids all his fears and doubts depart,
And proves his heavenly birth.”

For preaching and praying, then, Jesus is all-sufficient. And then,

There is a sufficiency in Christ for the daily life.-Jesus is a hidden Source of consolation and joy, and the believer's life lies where the scrutiny of the world cannot penetrate. He is sometimes in spirit brought near to God, realizing the sweetness of a secret peace, the like of which nothing on earth can compare. The world's allurements, the wills and snares of Satan, and one's own corrupt heart, conspire to deaden that life; yet in the midst of all he has springs of joy with which the world cannot intermeddle. He sees Him who is invisible, and is happy. Did you ever, dear reader, weigh those wonderful words, "Your life is hid with Christ in God?” It must be, then, a life beyond the reach of destruction, because omnipotence holds it. It is wrapped up in the Deity. Oh, how secure! Well may the

apostle say, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His." And what a comfort it is to the tried and tempted Christian to have such a blessed companion as Jesus in his daily life, and to draw from Him grace upon grace in every time of need. Daily life, Christian! Whatever the peculiarities of that life may be, Christ is all-sufficient. It may be much toil has to be endured; well, Jesus will help, will comfort, will uphold. He has trodden the pathway of toil before you. The despised Son of Joseph the carpenter can sympathize with you in your labour. Daily life, Christian! It may be attended with perplexity: Christ is all-sufficient. Care in connexion with one's business, payments to be met, bills to be settled, an integrity to be maintained in the world. Well, tell Jesus all about it; it is marvellous how He relieves, upholds, and brings through one who casts his every care upon Him. We can testify personally to this fact. Daily life, Christian! It may be hard work: Jesus is all-sufficient. Often was He weary as you are, and, with it all, possibly you have a softer bed to rest upon than He had, for "the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head :" "His locks were filled with the dews of the night." Come, cheer up, down-cast one, Christ is all-sufficient in all. And this brings us to note that

There is a sufficiency in Christ for dark and doubting times.-A young sister in the faith once asked us this curious question: "Do you think, sir, that a Christian has doubts and fears?" We replied, "Why do you make such an inquiry?" She said, "Because my neighbour, Mrs. So-and-so, tells me that I cannot be a Christian, for I have so many doubts and fears." We replied, "Well, you ask Mrs. So-and-so why the Lord has addressed in His word upwards of fifty fear-nots to His people if they would never be subject to fears?" "Ah!" she said, "I never thought of that." We found after that this neighbour, who was thus throwing a stumbling-block in the way of a weak one, was a (so-called) "Plymouth Sister," fully inflated with self-sufficiency and creature-assurance. No, we are not to encourage doubts and fears; but still there is a "fear-not in God's word for every form of doubt. But we do feel that nothing we can write upon this subject can compare with a most precious article upon "Doubts," in the October number of this Magazine, from the pen of our beloved brother, Dr. Hewlett. Reader, if you have not already perused it, we strongly advise you to do so. It is a perfect analysis of "doubts," pointing to the only antidote, the Lord Jesus. May He lead us away from our miseries to His mercies, and we shall get right.

A dear aged saint, having received a fresh manifestation of God's special care of her, writes, "I feel like Manaoh's wife, struck dumb with wonder and amazement at my heavenly Father's mindful, loving care over such a worm. Can you understand me, dear friend, when I tell you that mercy crushes and overwhelms me more than trials? It is a paradox, and I feel it to be such; nevertheless it is a truth in my experience, and at such season I can sing in unison with the poet,

"Thy mercy is more than a match for

Our dear sister has touched the right cord here.
and doubts will vanish. Try it, dear reader!
to remark that-

my heart.""

Let mercy be the theme, And this brings us further

There is a sufficiency in Christ for the afflicted one.-We have met with poor Christians who in the midst of their poverty have manifested a satis