the spirit, and become immortal :-" But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Thus the Christian has a prospect, therefore, not only of being delivered from the sting of death, but also from the very state itself. When Jacob was going down into Egypt, though it was even to see his son Joseph, and he had said, "It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive, and I will go down and see him before I die," yet when he came to the verge of Egypt his old withered frame began to tremble, so that God appeared to him and said, "Jacob, fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will surely bring thee up again." And this is what God says to every believer with regard to the grave:-"Be not afraid to go down into the grave; I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up again."

FEB. 8.—0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Cor. xv. 55.

THE apostle here combines these two enemies together, because it is hardly possible to treat them separately. We find this figure employed even in the Jewish Scriptures. There Isaiah says, "He shall swallow up death in victory." And thus God says by Hosea, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues: 0 grave, I will be thy destruction, repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." Thus the apostle says, "He hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel." "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, as to this victory over death, we may remark that he certainly conquers death who is not and cannot be injured by it, and to whom it is therefore expressly harmless. This is the case with every Christian. The apostle tells the believing Corinthians that death was stingless with regard to them; that it stung once, and a dreadful sting it was; that it stung our Surety, who took our place for us; but, though it stung him, it left its sting in him, so that there was none for the Christian. The sting of death was sin; he bore our sin in his own body on the tree, and put

away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and then, as Dr. Watts says,

"If sin be pardon'd, I'm secure;

Death has no sting beside:

Thy law gives sin its damning power,

But Christ my ransom died."

Yes, and that is not all: he who conquers death will be improved by it; he rises with a much better body than he lay down; the body will not be a burden—it will not be a clog-it will not require as now the greater part of our time in providing for its support-it will want no such provision-it will never want a surgeon's knife, or a physician's medicine, or the milliner's ingenuity, or a machine to drag the dulness hither and thither. Oh, what a change! so that the spirit itself, our spiritual body, will be an advantage to the soul. It will be reunited with the immaterial universe-from which it was severed before for want of a suitable organization-reunited to the immortal universe. Oh, what a world will that be which it will enter!-what sounds will charm it!-what fruits will it taste!-what abundance will be there! The model of the Christian's future body is that body which shone above the brightness of the sun at noonday, when it appeared on Mount Tabor-that body in which the Saviour will judge the world in righteousness-that body which he will wear forever, and through which we shall hold our communion with him. Once more. He has conquered death who rises above the apprehension of it, and realizes all this joy and all this blessedness even now. The first Christian could say, with the apostle, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord." Verily, this looks like overcoming. "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ;"-the victory over death and the grave.

FEB. 9.-For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John iii. 8. AND we know how he succeeded. When he had sent forth the seventy disciples, and had given them power over unclean spirits, he followed them as they went, and said, "I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven;" and, as the last hour and the

power of darkness drew on, he said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." "Now," says he, "is the judgment of this world." "Now is the prince of this world cast out." "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The world shall change Masters, and instead of following him they shall follow me. But it may be asked, "Did he not fall in the struggle?" When a man is slain in the battle, why should you consider him as a conqueror? If it only produced such a conclusion as this, his triumph was short, it was but for a moment. It is true Jesus fell; but it was in falling that he conquered. "He spoiled," says the apostle, "principalities and powers; he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by his cross." And because "the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Thus our Lord delivers his people from the power of darkness, and brings them into his own kingdom. "When a strong man armed," saith he, "keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace; but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoil." So that, from that period, properly speaking, the combat begins with him. Before this, Christians did not oppose him, and he did not oppose them. Why did he not? Because he had them in safe custody; they were his bond-slaves, and they were led captive by him at his will. But when they were emancipated from his control, then he followed them as apostates from his cause, then he burned with inextinguishable ire to overtake and destroy them. Then he pursued after them like Pharaoh; and, like Pharaoh, his attempt will issue, not in their destruction, but in his own. "Yes," says the Apostle John, "whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Not touch the Christian! He has touched him a thousand times. How often does he awaken his fears!— how often does he distress his conscience! Not touch him; the devil not touch him! Not so as essentially to injure him-not so as to destroy him-not so as to overcome him. We see an exemplification of this in the experience of Peter. "Simon, Simon," says our Lord, "Satan hath desired to have you, that he

may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." But did not Peter's faith fail? It did, indeed, as to its exercise, but not as to principle. It did fail for a minute, but it immediately recovered. The bough was bowed down by the violence of the wind, but it soon recovered its uprightness, and pointed towards heaven again. It required but a look from Jesus, and all was in motion again as before:-"He went out and wept bitterly." Yes; thus shall it be with all the Lord's people; and therefore, says the apostle to the Romans, "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."

FEB. 10.-Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law. Ps. cxix. 136.

IT is the surest evidence of the renewed mind to which we can refer, when we are weeping for the sins of others, as they do not expose us to condemnation, and with it, if we mourn over them, it must be from a religious principle. God knows this; and God is so pleased, therefore, that we read in Ezekiel that the executions were stayed till the man with the inkhorn had impressed a mark on the foreheads of all who mourned and sighed for the abominations that were done in the land at Jerusalem. Wherever the Christian sees sin, he sees something that dishonours God-something that destroys a soul-something that crucifies the Lord of life and glory; and he can say, with David, "I beheld the transgressors and was grieved." He cannot see God's law trampled upon-hear God's name blasphemed-witness the contempt thrown upon the sacred day and upon the glorious gospel of his Lord and Saviour-without feeling aggrieved. The people of the world often reproach the Lord's people with being mopish and melancholy. Ungrateful beings! to reproach them for this, when they themselves are the cause of a great deal of their distress and sorrow. They weep because others never weep; they mourn, because others never mourn. They know the dangers to which sinners are exposed, though they themselves are not aware of it. They see that "their damnation lingereth notthat their destruction slumbereth not:" and when these things come near home when they regard their own immediate connections-how can they help saying, with Esther, "How can I en

dure to see the destruction of my kindred?" In the West of England, a pious man and woman resided, who had a son,-a favourite son, too; but he was of an infidel turn. A minister, who had some reputation for eloquence, was to preach in the place. They persuaded him to attend; and, as he was fond of good speaking, he complied with their invitation. The subject was the happiness of the heavenly world. All seemed charmed: but when he looked into a corner of the pew he saw his mother weeping; and when he looked into another corner of the pew he saw his father weeping. When they arrived at home they asked him how he liked the preacher. "Oh," he said, immediately, "this is good natural speaking: but what in the world could induce you to weep, while all the rest seemed so delighted?" "Oh," said

the mother, "I wept not because I feared I should lose this blessedness, but at the thought, my son, of your being deprived of it." "Ah," said the father, "seeing your mother weep, I wept also at the same thought." They said no more, (and nothing is ever gained by noise and wordiness:) he immediately retired, and in his chamber said, "I have made my dear father weep and I have made my dear mother weep long enough: it is now time to weep for myself. God be merciful to me, a sinner."

FEB. 11.—Our vile body. Phil. iii. 21.

HOWEVER We may pamper, or adorn, or indulge the body, it is what the apostle calls it :-a vile body,—or, as it is in the margin, the body of our humiliation." And how humble is it in the lowness of its appetites-in the multitude and importunity of its wants-in the frailty of its frame-in the numerous diseases to which it is exposed, the seeds of which are often in the constitution, and, by external circumstances, ripen and bring forth fruit unto death! How often can an accident dismember or confine us! A few grains of sand, by collecting together in the body, will produce an obstruction that will yield such excruciating torment that the man chooses strangling and death rather than life. "Dropsy is drowning one, fever is burning up another, the palsy is benumbing a third, the ague is chilling a fourth." "Am I not made to pass months of vanity?" says Job, "and wearisome nights are appointed unto me. When I lie down I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings