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would say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." With regard to many circumstantial things and minor points of doctrine in religion, we may leave the mind open to conviction; here we cannot exercise too much candour; but nothing can be more pernicious than to apply this to the leading truths of Christianity. "It is a good thing for the heart to be established with grace." Secondly, We may gain this confidence and certainty with regard to the privileges of the gospel. There is such a thing as enjoying the "comforts of the Holy Ghost," as "peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ," -as relief under a distressed conscience by the application of the "blood of sprinkling." Thirdly, We may gain this confidence and certainty with regard to our personal interest in all this, and be able to say, "Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name." We do not affirm, indeed, that all the subjects of divine grace have this certainty, or we should "break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax." But if it were not attainable we should not have heard Job saying, "I know that my Redeemer liveth;" nor David, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory;" nor John, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Fourthly, We may gain this confidence and certainty with regard to the end and issue of afflictive dispensations. "I know that this shall turn to my salvation;" and this is the very spirit of the motto. Those know who are exercised thereby, that sanctified afflictions may be very useful and subserve the very purpose of their salvation. We allow that there is sometimes a difficulty in gaining this conviction. The providence of God is sometimes very mysterious. Job said, "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him, on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him." And Jacob said, "All these things are against me;" while at the same time they were subserving his real welfare. And we can gain this confidence, even now, being assured that though "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, yet nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby."

JAN. 11.-God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him. Jas. ii. 5.

IN general the language of the Scriptures is most favourable to the needy and distressed; and what generous mind does not rejoice in this aspect of benevolent preference?-who does not read with pleasure?" I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and an afflicted people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." "The poor have the gospel preached unto them." And here that God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? But this is not true of them universally and exclusively; we are told that not "many" of the rich and the noble are called, but the very assertion proves there are some. But while the possession of earthly good may screen from dependence and embarrassment, and procure for them not only the necessaries but the conveniences, and indulgences, and embellishments of life, yet our Saviour said to his followers, "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." "In the world ye shall have tribulation." Yet he also said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." The apostle, who taught that "through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom," made no scruple to say, "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." Religion, by its natural influence, as well as by the blessing of an overruling Providence, tends in various ways to advance the temporal welfare of men. While it is said, "They that have riches shall hardly enter into the kingdom of God," it is also said, "But with God all things are possible." We allow there is enough to alarm the prosperous; but they have no ground for despair, for while there is a diversity in human conditions, and that some are rich and others are poor, and while some are in honour and others are in obscurity and disgrace, God hath placed no condition under sentence of reprobation. There is a way to heaven from all the diversities of human life; there is a passage to it from the mansion as well as from the cottage, though it is more narrow, and perplexing, and difficult. In a word, a Christian is never known by his condition, but he must be always known in it.

JAN. 12.—Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Ps. li. 13.

HERE we have the importance of the object sought, and the means by which it is to be accomplished. There is no evil from which a fellow-creature can be delivered compared to sin. The conversion of a sinner from the error of his way is an event of far greater importance than the conquest of a kingdom. There is no charity like charity to the soul. The conversion of sinners is not only important, but possible. The work is ascribed to God. He is indeed the efficient agent in every case; but he works by means, and it is by the instrumentality of his people that he principally carries on his cause in the world. They are his witnesses, they are his servants. He first makes them the subjects of his grace, and then employs them as means of communicating it to others. He changes rebels into friends, and then sends them on an errand of reconciliation, and by them beseeches sinners to be reconciled unto a God of mercy. And he has qualified them for this embassy; having "tasted that the Lord is gracious," their own experience gives them earnestness and confidence in saying to their fellow-sinners around, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him." There are many ways in which Christians may teach transgressors God's way, and of converting sinners from the error of their own way. By conversation, a word spoken in season, how good it is; by epistolary correspondence, recommending good books; by bringing persons under the preaching of the word-for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." As soon as Andrew had become acquainted with the Saviour, "he findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ; and he brought him to Jesus." As soon as Philip knew the Lord, he findeth his friend Nathanael, and saith unto him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write." As soon as the woman of Samaria had found him, and knew the Gift of God, "she left her water-pot and went into the city, and saith to her neighbours, Come, see a man that told me all things ever I did; is not this the Christ?" And we know that great numbers through her instrumentality were subsequently influenced by her statement, and induced to

believe on the Saviour of the world. Thus it is with Christians still-knowing the misery of a state of alienation from God, and the blessedness of a return to him, their compassion to souls is moved and their zeal inflamed, so that, with Paul, their hearts' desire is that "they might be saved;" and, with David, they will be concerned to teach transgressors the ways of the Lord, and that sinners may be converted unto God.

JAN. 13.-I give myself unto prayer.

Ps. cix. 4.

DAVID was a man of prayer. We here read of his giving himself unto prayer; that is, he made it the leading business of his life. Now in this he is an example worthy of our imitation, for prayer is the very life of religion, without which it cannot exist, much less prosper, therefore we should be found much in the exercise of it. For this purpose we may take three views of it. First, View it as a duty. Though God knows all things, and sees the end from the beginning, and works all things after the counsel of his own will, yet he hath said, "For these things I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them;" thus they are commanded to "seek the Lord and his strength." Secondly, It is a due acknowledgment of his nature, and our dependence upon him, as our Benefactor, Preserver, and Governor, and "the God of our salvation, to whom belong the issues of life." Thirdly, We may view it as an honour. We should deem it an honour if we had free and full access to an earthly sovereign—and is it nothing that we can have access at all times to the "blessed and only Potentate, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords"? Prayer places us nearly upon a level with the glorified spirits above, with this difference-they approach the throne of glory, and we the throne of grace. We can enter the secret of his pavilion here, we can come even to his seat, can pour out our hearts before him with more freedom than we can to the dearest friend or nearest relative upon earth. Fourthly, Let us view it also as an advantage. "It is good for me," says David, "to draw near to God." What a relief does the very exercise of prayer afford! How it eases the aching heart, and binds up the broken spirit! Oh, there are times and seasons in which every refuge seems to fail us, and God is our only resource; when we look inward, and perceive nothing but

decaying affections and withered hopes. We go forth, and there we meet with an unfeeling and repulsive world. The mind is thrown upon futurity, and there we find a vast ocean, where we are wearied with winds, and waves, and without a compass, without a chart. It is then devotion comes, and wraps us up in its soft mantle, bearing us away to him in whom we may find an asylum into which no enemy can enter, and where no ill can approach. Thus we enjoy an emblem and earnest of that state "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Oh, the luxury of prayer! How relieving is it to pour our complaints into the bosom of a friend, who, having rejoiced with us when we rejoiced, does not suffer us to cry in vain, "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O ye my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me." But how much more relieving and delightful is it to make God our Friend, and, like David, to pour out our hearts before him! And this is what he himself enjoins:-" Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will sustain thee." He would not have us struggle and turmoil with it ourselves, but we are commanded to roll our burden on the Lord, for we can roll what we cannot heave. This is done by prayer, and each petition we offer takes off some of the load, and lays it upon him :-"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." The apostle also says, "Be careful for nothing;" but how is this to be accomplished? This is the. way:-"Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you." The heathens allowed that care was an evil, and they wished to cure it but all their efforts reached only to the paroxysms of the complaint; they knew not God, and that " peace of God which passeth all understanding." But we can tell God all our complaints, and leave all with him; nothing will tranquillize the mind like this, but this will do it. He blesses us in the exercise of our various graces, and it is thus he prepares us for the manifestations of his love and the communications of his goodness.

JAN. 14.—The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. Zeph. iii. 17.

This rises out of

HERE we have the DIVINE SUFFICIENCY. the relationship. A person, however, may be related to us, and he may even be with us, and yet not able to succour us. How

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