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for us. But there are cases which will require the sacrifice of these instead of their preservation. No; deliverance from temporal evil is not absolutely promised; it could not have been absolutely promised; if it had, it would have turned the promise into a threatening. Could we ourselves have wished God to promise temporal advantages, whether they should be good for us or whether they should be evil? Surely we could only have asked God to engage to give them if good for us, and to beg him to refuse if he foresaw they would be evil. This he has promised, and so far they are sure. "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Christians will not be saved from death,—that is, from the stroke of death; but they will from the sting. They will not be saved from the grave,—that is, from entering it; but they will from continuing there. But we may observe that this salvation, though not exclusively, is principally, spiritual and eternal. "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." "They shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end." If guilty, then, this salvation shall justify us; if unholy, it shall renew us; if blind, it shall open our eyes, and make us wise unto salvation. If poor, it shall enrich us, and if destitute, it shall bless us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But are they not saved already? Does not the apostle say, "By grace are ye saved""He hath saved you, and called you with an holy calling"? Yes, assuredly they are saved already, because the whole of the salvation is insured, and the whole of the salvation is begun. But yet there is a great difference between the purchase and the application of salvation-between the commencement and the completion of it. But, it may be said, if persons are saved, can they be more than saved? Not as to their state, but as to their experience. Surely they may know more of the salvation, feel more of it, rejoice more in it, and communicate more of it to others. What! can a man be more justified than the believer is now before God? No, but then he may apprehend him more clearly and fully, and realize the privilege, and no longer write bitter things. against himself, and, knowing that he is justified by faith, have peace with God and peace within-peace in the court of conscience, as well as in the court of heaven. Is not the Christian already sanctified? Among whom are ye the sanctified?" says

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the Apostle Peter. But, though the work is begun, it is not perfected; it will be carried on against the day of Jesus Christ. Every thing here is progressive, whatever some may say to the contrary. There is first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. There is the dawn and the shining unto perfect day. The righteous "hold on their way, and wax stronger and stronger;" they are "renewed day by day," and are "changed from glory into glory." Hence the church prays, "Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us." And hence David pleads, "Thou wilt perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; forsake not the work of thine own hands."

JAN. 18.-He will rest in his love. Zeph. iii. 17.

OBSERVE the permanency of Jehovah's love to his people. "He shall rest in his love;" that is, he shall feel fixed and changeless complacency and satisfaction. We do not always rest in our love, for love is often the offspring of ignorance and weakness-a mere impulse of passion; it often leaves no solace or contentment in the review; it is one of the things that are repented of; it varies with a thousand causes; it sometimes not only cools with indifference, but it terminates in the most perfect disgust and aversion. But with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. "I, the Lord, change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Is he a friend? He "loveth at all times." Is he a husband? "I will betroth thee unto me," not "until death us do part," but "I will betroth thee unto me forever." Is he a father? "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." He will, indeed, correct them. This is dealing with them as with sons; for what son is he whom his father chasteneth not? But, though he chastens, he will not cast them off, he will not disinherit them; he will heal their backslidings and love them freely; and, when the rod has answered its purpose, it will fall from his hand upon the ground, and he will break forth and say, "Is Ephraim, my dear son, is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still." Men fail in their natural affection and women, they sometimes fail in their natural affection. Yes, the mother sometimes forgets her sucking child, and

has no compassion on the son of her womb. Yes, says God, who knows all things, this may be the case with her, but, nevertheless, "I will not forget thee." "Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

JAN. 19. Do good. Heb. xiii. 16.

GOD not only bestows good upon his people for their own sakes, but blesses some for the sake of others. He looks beyond the immediate possessors of his favours. These he designs shall not only be the subjects of his goodness, but the instruments; not only the recipients, but the diffusers. And how can we neglect to impart relief and comfort to others, which God is so graciously communicating to us :-"Freely we have received, freely let us give"? It is in this way we may expect to have our mercies blessed, and this is the way also to have them increased. "The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand." The objects of our benevolent regards are numerous. "As we have opportunity, we are to do good to all men, especially unto them that are of the household of faith." These are the fatherless and the widows, whom we are to visit in their affliction; we have the sick to heal, the naked to clothe, and the hungry to feed. But there are also the careless to awaken, the ignorant to instruct, the vicious to reclaim, and the backsliding to restore. The soul is of supreme importance, and it becomes us peculiarly to aid in supporting those institutions and efforts which have in view the spiritual and eternal welfare of men. Christians not only see wants and miseries which distress them, but which excite in them a disposition to relieve according to their power; they are delighted to indulge a spirit of benevolence; and, with regard to the extension and promotion of the Redeemer's cause generally, they will endeavour to be accessory to its advance. And while they will be instant in praying that God's kingdom may come, and his word may have free course and be glorified, they will be forward in offering their aid, and will rejoice when those prayers are answered. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" should be our anxious and prayerful inquiry; and, if we have prayed for these objects sincerely and earnestly, consistency requires, if we would not be condemned out of our own mouths, that we should be forward to make every sacrifice in our power for these attainments.

JAN. 20.-I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. Ps. cxvi. 1, 2. DAVID not only prayed, and observed the answers to his prayers, but improved those answers. We here see that he derived two things from the answers to his prayers. First, an excitement to love and gratitude. "I love the Lord," &c. Some tell us (but who told them?) that real saving love to God must regard his perfections and not his benefits; that it must regard him, and what he is in himself, and not for what he bestows upon us. But are we to be wiser than the sacred writers? Do they not often enforce love to God by what he has done for us? Does not Paul say, "We beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service"? Does not John say, "We love him, because he first loved us"? And does not David say, "Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing"? It is impossible for the heart to be in a right frame, unless it excites us to inquire, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?" Why are we not more thankful? Because we are not more attentive to the instances of God's loving-kindness and tender mercies. These we should turn into so many songs of praise; this we find David doing. "Bless the Lord," says he, "O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." This is not all. We should derive from it an encouragement to hope and confidence. "Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." Success always emboldens the beggar; he loves to approach the door where he has been relieved again and again. Those who can say, "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary," will not be backward to repair to it again and again, that they "may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need." We now only see in part, and have but an imperfect view, for "now we see through a glass darkly; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." Then "in God's light shall we see light." Then shall we see that all his works and ways have been in harmony with his word; what

ever apparent contradictions we may have imagined, we may be fully satisfied that all he does conduces to our advantage, however adverse some things may appear, and however we may, through unbelief, be induced to say, "All these things are against me." Then we shall see that he has been indeed a God hearing and answering prayer-that we never sought him in vain, but that, in some way or other, in some measure or degree, we have been benefited. Let us then be looking forward to that better world where we hope soon to arrive. Our waiting days will soon be over-and our praying days will soon be over, but

"Our days of praise shall ne'er be past,

While life, or thought, or being last,
Or immortality endures."

JAN. 21.-Consider. Hag. i. 5.

THE religion of the Bible is a reasonable service; nothing can be more widely different from groundless belief, or opposed to the enthusiasm of ignorant impulses, a heated imagination, or excited unintelligible feelings. It commences with "the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, so that we may see what is the hope of our calling;" and all its subsequent processes are carried on through the medium of a mind renewed by the Spirit of God. Whatever is connected with love to God and obedience to his revealed will is the result of intention, and is influenced by corresponding motive. The Holy Spirit's influences do not operate in us like the cures of a charm, of whose efficiency no account can be given. A Christian is able to give a reason of the hope that is in him. We are not forced into religion as are the motions of a machine, insensible of its workings and results; nor as the varied operations of the functions of our physical being are carried on in our bodies, which act independently of the mind and will. We are not only subjects of religious influences, but also instruments in producing them in others. What is done in us is done by us. Therefore, says the apostle, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure." We are here taught that, while God is the Author of all good, and our progress in goodness is from him, yet he does not carry us along in the way everlasting, but enables us to walk. He works

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