unto the perfect day." Thirdly, The importance of faith is to be gathered from these words of our Lord. Some persons seem afraid to say much on faith, as if it were prejudicial to morality. Why, they should know that faith is the tree that bears all the fruits of holiness, the spring from whence all holiness flows. No Christian is so celebrated for his faith as was Abraham; and there are none so celebrated for obedience. And this should not

We read of the

surprise us; it is what we should reckon upon. "analogy of faith"-the "law of faith"-the "work of faith" -the "obedience of faith"-the "fight," the "prayer," the "joy" of faith. Every thing has to do with this. In proportion as we believe, God is glorified; for strong faith giveth glory unto God. We are filled with all joy and peace in believing. Are we sanctified? It is "by faith that is in me." Are we purified? "Purifying their hearts by faith." Do we conquer? "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Do we stand? "We stand by faith." Do we walk? "We walk by faith." Do we live? Have we boldness and confidence? It is by faith. What says the apostle to the Ephesians? "Above all, taking the shield of faith." What says Christ to Peter? "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Here we see what it was the enemy's aim to injure, and what Christ designed to save-it was faith; and then Jesus and Satan both proclaim the importance of faith. Hence Christ said to his patients, "Be it unto you according to your faith," and to his disciples, "Where is your faith?"

JAN. 26.—I am glad that I was not there. John xi. 15. GOD can accomplish the purposes of his love, by ways peculiar to himself. The friends of Lazarus would have said he ought to have been there. The Jews thought that he should have repaired to the scene of woe. The sisters fully expected this. They walked up and down the room, wringing their hands, and they said, "Where is he?" They looked out of the windows, and said, "Why is he so long in coming?" Calling the ploughman who was passing, they said, "John, go and look down the Galilean road, and see if Jesus is coming." When he came, they could hardly help reproving him: Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;" and her sister Mary

said the same. But Christ said, "I know what I have been doing; I am not acting in darkness; you will see it is better that your brother should rise from the dead, than that he should remain sick. Thus he says, "I will bring the blind by a way that they know not ;" "Your ways are not my ways." I am not to be judged of by a human standard. His absence from these individuals was to show that his ways were not only different, but superior to theirs. "As the heavens are high above the earth, so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts." The case of Joseph seemed very hard, and, from the love the Lord bore to him, we might have supposed he would have been there, to have saved him from the pit. But I am glad for his sake-for his family's sake-for his country's sake-for the church's sake-for our sake-that he was not there. Here are three Hebrews cast into a fiery furnace. We might have supposed the Lord should have been there to have saved them; but he was not, and I am glad that he was not. The flames only burst their bonds; the tyrant on the throne was divinely impressed, and constrained to adore. Wherever they went, persons turned and said, "There goes one of the three young men who chose to go into the fiery furnace rather than sin against God." How stripped and peeled was Job! When we see him the object of scorn and pity, we are ready to suppose the Lord had been there; but when we think of the end we are glad that he was not, and James says, "Ye have heard of the patience of Job." When, therefore, our views and his dealings do not seem to harmonize, let us remember that he acts sovereignly—not arbitrarily :-" but he gives no account of his matters." His judgments are far above, "out of our sight." Let us suspend our opinions-never set his sun by our dial, but always our dial by his sun. We can see his heart, if we cannot see his hand. Do you ask where? Why, at Calvary. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?" And can we doubt of his wisdom or his love? We should learn to judge by his views and by his testimony, and not by other things. We know not what is good for us; we may judge wrongly:

"Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain."

"It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." If we look

back we shall see how often we have desired what would have been our injury and ruin if we had obtained it! And how often have we sought to escape from what we now see to be our chief blessing! We have charged him almost with wickedness, where we have now reason to believe that his kindness was peculiarly at work for our happiness. And if we see it not now we shall see it hereafter. Is it for us to judge of the skill of the artist from the first rough sketch? Should we not wait till it has received his masterly touches? Should we judge of the building while all the materials are rudely scattered about, especially if we had never seen the plan? No; we should wait till the topstone is laid thereon. "Judge nothing before the time;" God

will give a good account of himself. "He hath done all things well!" ways, thou King of saints."

The saints above shout, "Just and true are thy

JAN. 27.-God commanded me to make haste. 2 Chron. xxxv. 21.

THESE words refer to war-one of the most fertile topics of all history. Ever since man became an apostate from his God, he has been an enemy to his brother; and from the death of Abel to this hour, our earth has been an "Aceldema, the field of blood." But the sword shall not devour always. An hour cometh when Christ "shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more," at least so far as to pursue it as a profession. The words were spoken by the king of Egypt. He is called Necho; that is, the club-footed. Many sovereigns have derived their principal and best distinction from some bodily quality. Thus, one has been called the Fair, another, Longimanus, or the Long-handed, and so of the rest. Necho was now waging war with Nebuchadnezzar, who had subdued Assyria, and was now glorying much in the title of the king of Assyria. He designed to attack him at Carchemish, on the borders of the river Euphrates; but, on his way hither, he was assaulted by Josiah, king of Judah, who went forth and fought him at Megiddo, forty-five miles from Jerusalem. No reason is assigned for this action. All is not wise that wise men

do; all is not good that good men do. There are seasons in which, in even wise and good men, both grace and sense are asleep. Josiah's action was rash; he intermeddled with strife not belonging to him. His best apology, perhaps, would be that Necho was marching through a part of Judea. But then, first, this part did not belong to him; and, secondly, if Necho had passed through, he might have done so, as Israel formerly desired to pass through the borders of Moab, engaging to commit. no injury, and to pay for all they used. But alas! Josiah consulted his feelings rather than his convictions; and passion is always a sad counsellor. It is obvious that he did not ask counsel of the Lord,-"Shall I go up, or shall I forbear?" And yet he had with him not only that famous prophet Jeremiah, but Zephaniah and Urijah, and a whole college of seers. Whenever we decline asking counsel, it betrays a secret consciousness that we are not doing right; and it is miserable to engage in any enterprise, especially an important one, without inward satisfaction. Whenever, therefore, we err, we should err conscientiously, in order that we may maintain peace within; and we should never think of prospering in any undertaking, unless we acknowledge God in all our ways. Yea, Josiah not only refuses to ask counsel, but he rejects the fairest warnings and remonstrances; for Necho even sent ambassadors to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?" He reasons with him, first, from a principle of equity:-"I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have warred." And, secondly, he reasons with him from a principle of religion:-"For God commanded me to make haste" in this affair-from some dream, or some impulse which he had, and which he believed to be from God; and which probably was really from him, for we read in the words following that it was "from the mouth of God." And, thirdly, he reasons with him from a principle of interest :"Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not." What was the result of all this? "Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot,

and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers."

JAN. 28.—And the archers shot at king Josiah; and he died, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for king Josiah. 2 Chron. xxxv. 23, 24.

WE do not infer from thence that Josiah perished forever. Far from it; the manner of his death was indeed a divine correction; and this is the law of God's house. While the Lord in his dealings with his people takes vengeance on their inventions, yet, as David observes, "He forgives their iniquities." He therefore received Josiah to himself; and his death, though a violent one, was in one sense even a privilege to himself, and so it had been spoken of in an earlier announcement, where God said, "Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place." He, therefore, died at peace with God, and was spared the sight of the desolation of Jerusalem, and the destruction of his country. Thus, the Lord often removes his servants from the evil to come, and calls home his ambassadors before he declares war. though it was only a correction to himself, it was really a punishment to the people. They were unworthy of the reign of such a prince, and they were no longer to be borne with. Hence it was that God suffered him to be so infatuated as to expose his precious life, that by his death he might remove the hinderance that kept back the judgments of God which were ready to be poured in upon the land. For the godly are, as Jeremiah says, those who "stand in the breach," and who keep back invading calamities. Yea, they are called "the repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell in." Yea, they are called "the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." But observe the impression his death made:-" And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all

But,