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wretch as I am! I feel as if I could dash my head against that wall, if it would make me love thee; but it cannot. O make me to love thee! It is merciful in thee thus to afflict me; but, O be merciful to the cause of it! May he be forgiven and led to thee. Let me plead for I can pray to thee for that which I dare not write. Keep not silence, O my God!' but make me to hear thine own

Let it be for good.

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voice in this matter. Let me be directed by thy Spirit. Draw me close unto thee, that I may feel the warmth of thy love!"

He was not, however, wholly absorbed by such topics. The country was at this period agitated by the commotions which preceded the political measure which conferred civil privileges on Romanists in Ireland, and the subject attracted much of his attention. It was with difficulty that he could make up his mind regarding it; indeed, he could not decide where the justice lay, till he saw the bearings of the measure upon the truth of God. Then only did his views become clear and decided in favour of preserving our constitution as a Protestant one, and our nation as a standing witness against the errors which had, in nearly every land, succeeded in effacing the truth that saves, and enthralling the nations of the earth.

But whatever topic might engross him for a season, he perpetually recurred to what formed the burden of nearly all his thoughts-the Redeemer in the glory of his person, and his work. On the 7th of May, he wrote thus to a friend:

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:

You wish for my mind on some things stated in your last, but I find we are both fellow-travellers meeting at the same point, and asking one the other,

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CHRIST OVER ALL AND IN ALL.

Which way next?' We have come so far separately— we seem even side by side-we might each direct a stranger in what is past; but the road is new to us both where we now are, and where we desire to advance. But let us, like fellow-travellers, talk the matter over, and who knoweth whether the Lord may not join us by the way, even though our eyes should be holden that we may not know Him? Well do I know that self-seeking spirit which you lament. I should say, bitterly do I feel it. It is my constant companion, nay, the very inseparable shadow of all my services. It is the unfinished Babel of my former days. I have been driven from the top of it-I dare not again build it; but still I have a constant hankering to begin again, and to fetch materials for it. To be plain, I feel (more or less), in my duties before others, an anxiety about their opinion, a regardlessness about Him in whose presence I am, and a congratulating of myself, that, on reflection, makes me to abominate myself. Ah! but say you, it is happy for you that you can abominate yourself. Wait, what is the result? On the very back of this self-abominating, I rear another monument of self-exaltation. I am proud of my humiliation, and am ready forthwith to put it in place of a Mediator ! Then, again, I am ready to feel proud of my consciousness of this, as a mark of Christian attainment—and so on. 0

-, nothing but divine, free, sovereign, irresistible grace will do for us; and how wonderful that the Lord should persevere with us! I could at times almost cut myself, like the priests of Baal, at the thought of these things. Nothing will do but to come to the Lord and spread out every thing before Him, and say with Abraham, 'O let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet once more!' Blessed be His name, we may. But, my dear

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have a malady more extensive, and far more fallacious than even this, and that is a selfish seeking of the Lord for my own sake, not for His-a seeking of His favour and countenance for my own comfort alone, not for His own moral excellency and beauty-a seeking for strength for the per

THE DEATH-SLEEP OF THE CHURCHES.

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formance of duties up to a certain standard of my own or man's forming, without casting myself upon Him in an unlimited degree, to spend and be spent in His service. This is often deceitful-it is limiting the Holy One-it is seeking Him for certain purposes-forgetting (to use a figure) that, whatever may be the superficial contents of the whole soul, Christ must be in contact with every part of it; and that it is in proportion as this is increasing, that our sanctification is growing and advancing. What a grand attainment, when Christ is made unto the soul wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption !_Wisdom as our prophet, righteousness as our priest, sanctification as our king, and redemption as our all and in all. O let us not rest satisfied with ordinary attainments. Why should we be contented to breathe only, when we might walk-to walk only, when we might run—to run, when we might fly-to fly, when we might mount up on wings as eagles? The more I compare the religion of the present day with that of our fathers, nay, even the religion of believers themselves, the less do I wonder at the mournful death-sleep that is amongst us, and the little success of our ministers. Those men left not the windows of heaven shut day nor night-they 'prayed without fainting'-they walked with God' they heeded not the opinions of men-they were devoted in solemn and personal covenant to God, soul, body, and spirit. My own spirit, almost faints within me with despair, when I think of such men. I feel as if it were useless to turn up my eye to that cloud of witnesses that look upon our world; it almost disheartens me from the little that I would fain do. But wherefore should it be so? What saith the prophet: O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His doings?' Ah! no, they are not His doings, they are ours. Behold, the arm of the Lord is not shortened that He cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God.' Let us, then, awake the arm of the

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THE BELIEVER'S ENEMIES.

Lord, as the prophet: Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord; put on thy strength, as in the days of old.' May we be enabled to contemplate in this spirit the holy office to which we are approaching. Let us invoke that arm to be with us, nor be discouraged that ours is an arm of flesh. With regard to that feeling of occasional distrust which you speak of as 'going before your judgment—I fully understand your meaning, though I have sometimes felt it in a different form. But there is no cure for all such feelings but contemplating Christ's finished work, and making the soul as it were to imbibe its fill of that. What could the Lord have done more than He hath done, to prove His sincerity in all His offers and promises of mercy? By what greater gift could He have sealed them, than by the free, unconditional gift of His dear Son? 'Tis here that I feel the awful strength of the strong man armed within me. In the performance of a duty he may sometimes seem asleep, but whenever I try to think of the love of the Godhead as exhibited in Christ Jesus, then do I stand insensible as a stone. All my corruption puts forth its strength to deaden me. Satan presents something to distract me, and unbelief lays hold of his prey. When we think of the mighty mass of corruption which has to be overcome, ere the standard of the Lord can be planted triumphant in the soul, need we wonder at the difficulty of casting ourselves wholly and permanently on Jesus? and what is this but to come to Him as vile and helpless sinners? O the viler I see myself, the more ready I am to come to Him. Faith is a lesson to be learned every day, and a lesson which God himself must teach. If we came to Him every day for it anew, we would receive it; but we think we have it, and that it only requires to be blown up, like our kitchen fires, by ourselves, and all is well. Remember, that all the inhabitants of the land are not expelled; they are left to keep you ever looking up to the God of battles. They will be upon you one after another-now the Midianites, then the Moabites-now the king of Canaan, then the lords

GRACE AND PEACE.

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of the Philistines though unbelief, like the Philistines, may be the longest and bitterest. Faith is within us like a spark in the ocean-what a miracle that it at all lives! Nay, but it shall dry up that ocean, if we cleave fast, as helldeserving sinners, to the Lord of life.

Tuesday, May 12.-I began this letter last week, but as our sacrament in Elgin came on, I laid it aside till my return. We have had cold, lifeless sermons; the builders almost all rejected the chief Corner Stone,' but I felt my heart cleave to Him all the closer, and I did enjoy a measure of comfort."

His step thus gradually became firmer as a man of God. He continued to dread presumption, but he no less dreaded what many overlook, the ingratitude of denying what the Lord had done in him and for him. He asks

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May 7.-Have I not had evident marks that He hath been gracious unto me?-dare I deny the thorough change and revolution that have taken place?-can I say that I do not sometimes hunger and thirst after Him? I cannot deny the gifts of His grace, more than of His providence. But I cannot derive comfort from the remembrance or consciousness of this alone. I must have a constantly realizing sense of the blood of Jesus-a newness of access to Him-a casting of myself before Him, as my all and in all-a looking up in His face and pleading, 'Lord be merciful to me, a sinner!""

This extract shows that tranquillity has now succeeded to those tossings to and fro which he had so long experienced, and he has not infrequently occasion to record, that, though his religion brought him no transport, it produced a sweet peace in his mind, and perfect resignation in looking to Jesus.