"MY BELOVED IS MINE, AND I AM HIS."

My Beloved is mine, and I am His."-Song Solomon ii. 16.

OME one has beautifully pointed out the difference between Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. In the former we have pourtrayed the vanity

of the world. "I looked," says Solomon, "on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." But in the Song of Solomon the sufficiency of Christ is beautifully set forth. For example, listen to such words as these: "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting-house, and His banner over me was love. My beloved is..... the chiefest among ten thousand......He is altogether lovely."

And we may surely say that the first step in real conversion is to feel our need of the Saviour. His blood may cleanse from sin, but what is it to me, if I do not feel myself guilty? His Righteousness can justify, but I shall never put on that "spotless robe" by faith, unless I feel myself defiled by sin. And sure I am that none ever come to Christ unless they despair of finding help elsewhere.

An old writer beautifully says, "And what think you of our need of the LORD JESUS? For my part, my soul is like a hungry and thirsty child, and I need His love and consolations for my refreshment; I am a wandering and lost sheep, and I need Him as a good and faithful Shepherd; my soul is like a frightened dove pursued by the hawk, and I need His wounds for a refuge; I am a feeble vine, and I need His cross to lay hold of and wind

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myself about; I am a sinner, and I need His Righteousness; I am naked and bare, and need His holiness and innocence for a covering; I am in trouble and alarm, and I need His solace; I am ignorant, and I need His teaching; simple and foolish, and I need the guidance of His Holy Spirit. In no situation, and at no time, can I do without Him. Do I pray? He must prompt and intercede for Am I arraigned by Satan at the Divine tribunal? He must be my Advocate. Am I in affliction? He must be my helper. Am I persecuted by the world? He must defend me. When I am forsaken, He must be my support; when dying, my life; when mouldering in the grave, my resurrection. Well then, I will rather part with all the world, and all that it contains, than with Thee, my Saviour; and, God be thanked, I know that Thou, too, art neither able nor willing to do without me. Thou art rich and I am poor; Thou hast abundance, and I am needy; Thou hast righteousness, and I sins; Thou hast wine and oil, and I wounds; Thou hast cordials and refreshments, and I hunger and thirst. Use me then, my Saviour, for whatever purpose and in whatever way Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel; fill it with Thy grace. Here is my sinful and troubled soul; quicken and refresh it with Thy love. Take my heart for Thine abode; my mouth, to spread the glory of Thy Name; my love, and all my powers, for the advancement of Thy honour and the service of Thy believing people. And never suffer the stedfastness and confidence of my faith to abate, that so at all times I may be enabled from the heart to say: Jesus needs me, and I Him, and so we suit each other."

It is worth while mentioning the literal translation of this verse- My Beloved is to me, and I am to Him.' The meaning would seem to be "I cannot say what my Beloved is to me! He is more than I can express. And indeed it is the glory of real Evangelical preaching that it exalts CHRIST. It distinctly says, "Christ is all."CHRIST is our Priest to whom the sinner must go, for HE

alone can say to the sorrowful penitent, Thy sins are forgiven thee. CHRIST is our Peace, Whose Blood speaks better things than Abel. CHRIST is our Righteousness, our Wisdom, our Sanctification, our Redemption, our All in all. And the soul that has been quickened by the Divine Spirit cries, "Give me Christ or else I die !"

The

"I am His." Well, how does the believer become Christ's? Let us gather it from Holy Scripture. Believer belongs to Christ in four ways.

1. Believers are His own loving choice. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," says the Saviour. And Christ chose His people, not because they were better than others, but because He loved them. If Christ did not first choose them, they would never choose Him.

2. They are His Father's gift. Read the seventeenth chapter of St. John, and see how much Jesus says about those "given Him" by His Father. That thought seemed to be so much in the heart of Jesus, even just before He was going to the Cross. Oh! how is it it does not enter more into our thoughts-into our teaching-into our prayers? You would value the gift of a dear friend; perhaps you have a locket, or a picture, or a book given you by some one you love very much-and you treasure it on that account. So Christ cares for His people, for they were "given given" to Him by His Father.

3. They are the conquest of His grace. He sends His Spirit into their hearts, and makes them willing in the day of His power. He opens their heart to receive the truth. "No man can come to Me," He said, "except the Father draw him," and how does the Father draw? Always, by the Spirit. He it is who convinces of sin, and gently draws to Christ.

4. They have given themselves to Christ. They were given to Him by His Father before the world began, and they have given themselves to Him in time. They belong to Christ by self-dedication. And then, let all believers consider if they belong to Christ, what is the result?— all things are theirs. For listen to what we read in 1 Cor.

iii. 21—23, “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," the best ministers are for your profit, they are to gather out and to feed the flock of Christ; "or the world," the world exists for your sakes; "or life," yes, life is yours, to use for God's glory; "or death," death is yours, because conquered by your Saviour; or things present," they all work for your good; "or things to come,' to enjoy for ever; "all are yours; all are yours; and ye are Christ's ;

and Christ is God's."

THE EDITOR.

HARVEST THOUGHTS.

NCE again the fields are ripe unto Harvest and Christian hearts offer grateful thanks to the GIVER of all good things. We are not worthy of the least of God's mercies; and all we enjoy, whether temporal or spiritual blessings, are the undeserved gifts of our Heavenly Father. And indeed a sense of GOD's favor and love sweetens all earthly blessings. "Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out."

But Reader, we think that Harvest-time is a fit season to meditate on another Harvest to which our Lord referred when He said "The Harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels." And yet again in the fourth chapter of St. John"And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." What seed are you sowing? Is it the WORD OF GOD? Is it the truth of the Gospel? If so, you will indeed gather fruit unto life eternal. Words of truth spoken for God are never lost. The seed grows we know not how-in hearts we least expected it to find a lodgment. Let us then labour on-let us plough and sow, and in due season we shall reap, if we faint not, for the Lord of the Harvest Himself says, "My Word shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it,”

But there are other seeds than the Word of God, which many, many are ceaselessly sowing. Such as Worldliness-AvariceHypocrisy-Thoughtlessness about the things of eternity. Alas! They that sow to the flesh shall reap corruption. For whatever seed men fling into the seed-field of time, they reap in never-ending harvests-unless indeed GOD's GRACE prevent. For that can kill the poisonous weeds of sin, and make the ground as clear as if they had never grown. That can "restore the years that the locust hath eaten." That can enable the vilest sinner to "bring forth the fruits of the Spirit." Reader, may God give you His GRACE for Jesus Christ's sake.

Amen.

THE LORD'S SUPPER,

CONSIDERED IN ITS DIFFERENT ASPECTS, IN THE LIGHT OF HOLY SCRIPTURE,

By the Rev. H. FISHER, Minister of St. Luke's Chapel, Leamington.

I-THE SACRIFICE.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."1 Corinthians v. 7, 8.

圆

T the expressed desire of a large section of the worshippers at St. Luke's Chapel, I have endeavoured in the following outlines to embody the substance of a series of Sermons delivered by me, on the subject of the Lord's Supper. In treating my subject, the reader will perceive that I have divested it of all the cumbersome terms and confused and mystical notions with which ages of accumulated tradition have overlaid it, all but obliterating the simplicity of the original institution. Throughout, I entitle it "The Lord's Supper," and in the treatment of the subject, in every instance, refer for my authority to the Holy Scriptures. "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." I humbly quote the words of the Apostle Paul, used in connection with this very subject, "I speak