in us, but it is that we may will and do. pressed, but employed. Faith and repentance are gifts of God; We are not only im Thus we see that all yet we believe and repent, and not God. true religion arises from consideration. plaining of the Jews, says, "My people do not consider." Therefore, David says, "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." The Christian's abhorrence of sin is not a thoughtless aversion. "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" His godly sorrow is not a thoughtless grief. "Then shall ye," says God, "remember your own evil ways, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight." His confidence is not a thoughtless trust; it is the result of knowledge :— "They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee." hope is not a presumptive expectation. He has "two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie," which give him. sure anchorage for his hope, of which he is "ready to give a reason to every one that asketh." His patience in trouble is not the result of natural hardihood, or stoical apathy, or a reckless desperation it is the effect of thought,-scriptural, sanctified thought. May we consider our ways, and the Lord give us understanding in all things! JAN. 22.-Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures. Matt. xxii. 29. His Ir is a sad thing that many persons, from whom better things might be expected, are so shamefully ignorant of the Scriptures. In consequence of not understanding them they are so liable to err-so liable to be led away with the error of the wicked, and carried away by every wind of doctrine, so as frequently not to know the way wherein they should walk, or the things they should do. It was of these errors arising from a deficiency of scriptural knowledge for which our Lord thus rebuked his own disciples. "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." And, if the word of Christ dwell in some, it is not "richly and in all wisdom." There may be an abundance of Scripture truths laid up in the memory, but there may not be the wisdom to apply it. The apostle complains of some as not being "skilful in the word of life, for they are babes." "For when for the time," says he, "ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." There are but few who do justice to the Scriptures in this respect. They are "A broad land of wealth unknown, for, as David says, "they are exceeding broad." "The cross, the manger, and the throne, Are big with blessings yet unknown." "Search the "a Its doctrines Let us seek to be better acquainted with them. Scriptures," says our Saviour, "for they are they which testify of me." Instead of imagining that we are very proficient in divine knowledge, let us pray with the apostle that we "may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height," and "to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." But we are reminded that the duty of practising what the Scriptures teach and enjoin is not less than that of acquiring a knowledge of them. We read of "obeying the truth," and of "walking in the truth." We can never regard the Scriptures properly until we find them to be " light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our path." Every thing in the Scriptures has a practical aim and tendency. are "according to godliness;" its "exceeding great and precious promises" are given us, "that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world through lusts." And "he that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure." Hume, the infidel, sneeringly said, "The Bible was given to keep the poor in order." If believed and acted upon, its truths will keep us all in order. It says as much to the rich as to the poor-as much to the master as it does to the servant to the husband as it does to the wife, and as much to professors as to those who have the form of godliness without the power. We are servants: it is not for servants to dictate, but to obey. We are patients: it is not for patients to prescribe, but to submit. We are criminals offending: and it is the prerogative of the Sovereign offended to choose the way in which his mercy shall be exercised, or whether he shall exercise mercy at all. With regard to the mind and will of God concerning us, as revealed in the Scriptures, our only inquiry therefore should be, What may we hope to receive from God? and our prayer, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" JAN. 23.-If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Ps. lxxxix. 30, 32. GOD loves his children too well to allow them to act improperly, or suffer them to violate the discipline under which he has placed them, without visiting them with severe and loving rebuke. It were to suppose the greatest absurdity to imagine that God will suffer his authority to be despised and his law forsaken, his statutes broken and his decisions set at naught. The very discipline he exercises in his family shows that he has not abandoned them to their own wayward and foolish courses. He gives expression to his paternal tenderness towards his disobedient children :-"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together." No; he will "not cast away his people whom he foreknew;" but this is the law of the house" he will visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes." "Nevertheless," he says, "my lovingkindness will I not take from him, nor cause my faithfulness to fail." And these corrections of our heavenly Father regard sins of omission as well as of commission. For he commands us to do as well as prohibits, and we forsake his law and break his statutes by neglecting to do what is enjoined upon us, as well as by doing what he has prohibited us from doing. These corrections regard the state of the heart as well as the conduct of the life. Where no deviation from the path of obedience, no miscarriages in duty, are apparent to others, our heavenly Father discovers a falling away in our feelings and motives. What a forsaking of first love—what ingratitude—what unbelief and distrust what prodigality of time-what a perversion of that which is good-what misimprovement of privileges-does he discover in his children! These defections in duty, these backslidings of heart, call frequently and loudly for the rod of correction; and can there be any reason for wonder or surprise that we are afflicted? Surely we have more reason to sing, "It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." "He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our transgressions," but "his strokes are fewer than our crimes, and lighter than our guilt." JAN. 24.—The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour. Prov. xii. 26. "HE that doeth righteousness is righteous," and we know who hath said "the upright are his delight." This is the characteristic of a real Christian. "The grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live righteously, soberly, and godly in the present world." It is thus "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life." Therefore it is that a man under the influence of this principle of righteousness is declared in the Scriptures to be more excellent than his unrighteous neighbour, however in other respects that neighbour may be distinguished. And this decision is according to truth. Let us endeavour to justify it. Who among the sons of the earth can be put in comparison with the real Christian. The rich? But he has the true riches, durable riches and righteousness, "the unscarchable riches of Christ." The honourable? But he is "great in the sight of the Lord;" he has the honour that cometh from God only. The learned? But he is made wise unto salvation; he has an unction from the Holy One, and knoweth all things. The conquering hero? But "he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his own spirit, than he that taketh a city." He subdues enemies that vanquish all other victors, he is more than a conqueror; and the Captain of his salvation thus eulogizes and rewards him. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, and I will write upon him my new name." Compared with a Christian, what was Adam in Paradise? What blessings are equal to the blessings of grace and redemption, the righteous man's portion? These deliver from sin, death, and hell. What was the Garden of Eden to the righteous man's home, "the new heaven, and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness"? What was the tree of life to the only true Source of a righteous man's immortality, who "came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly"? We as creatures were made by an exertion of wisdom and power, but we are saved by the manifold wisdom of God, and by the "exceeding greatness of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." JAN. 25.-I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe. John xi. 15. IN the estimate of our Saviour there is nothing so valuable or important as faith. There is nothing he is so much concerned to promote in his people as their faith. "To the intent ye may believe." Observe: First, From our Saviour's language, it is obvious that faith is no easy matter. They who think so have never made the trial. Oh, to take God at his word—to hang on an invisible arm-to confide in a Being we have never seen, and to confide in him when we are conscious that we have sinned against him, and deserve to suffer his righteous displeasure! Oh, where is the Christian that has not often cried out, with the father of the lunatic, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief"? We may see the difficulty of believing from the means he employs to promote it, so expensive, and from the persons for whom he here wishes it. Persons who had been with him from the beginning, and had seen his miracles, these are the persons whom he upbraids for their unbelief, who cry, "Lord, increase our faith." The language shows-Secondly, That faith admits of increase. Why, they believed already, or they would not have forsaken all to have followed him. But they did not believe enough. What a difference there is between the faith of two Christians, and even in the same Christian at different periods! At one time it is like the mustard-seed, how small! At another time it is like the mustard-tree, how large! Some tell us that there is no such thing as growing in grace, though we are commanded to grow in grace, and though Paul says, "Your faith and love groweth exceedingly." And may not faith be more powerful in its degree, and more free in its sacrifices? While this humbles it should stimulate us. The dawn is good, but our path should be that of "the just, which shineth more and more |