opposed them all the way. And it is to be remarked, that the nearer the children of Israel approached to their journey's end, the stronger the enemies were with whom they had to contend; and often did their hearts faint within them. An old writer has observed, "the nearer the christian advances towards his heavenly rest, the higher the mountains, the deeper the vallies, and the sharper the conflicts are."

The words that I have selected, upon which to ground the following observations, are well known to have been uttered by a wicked covetous man, who for the wages of unrighteousness would gladly have cursed Israel, to have gratified Balak the king of Moab; but the bitterest enemies, and the most malicious adversaries of God and his people, have often been constrained to utter sentences and truths, that have afforded to believers the strongest consolation. "God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he

spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

From these words, I propose to deduce the following considerations:

First. That God is a God of truth; and

Secondly. That believers may rest assured that in very faithfulness this God of truth will perform in their own happy and blessed experience all that he has promised in his word; not one shall fail 1; "for all the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.'

First. We are to exercise our minds in the delightful meditation, that God is a God of truth. In this glorious character he is revealed unto us in the holy oracles; and as God is discovered and known in this character, so the christian's hope and confidence will be grounded and established in him.

Is it not to be greatly feared, that thousands of professing persons do not know nor understand God in this character. They seem to imagine, that he is such an one as themselves, that he can promise to-day, and disappoint to-morrow. Can raise the expectation by some fair word, and then repent, and dash all our hopes to the ground. But not so our God; he is a God of truth." He is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent."

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Methinks the most God-glorifying act of faith is that which most simply gives credit to and relies most firmly and confidently upon what God saith. Thus Abraham; He staggered not at the proImise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God," Rom. iv. 20. When God made a promise to this father of the faithful, he did not stagger or reel about with this objection, "How can this thing be?" No: God promised, Abraham believed; and it was counted to him for righteousness.

To what are the painful fluctuations in the minds of weak christians to be attributed, but to an ignorance of God's character as a God of

truth? Men may lie, men do lie, deceive and disappoint; but the God of Israel, the God of truth, never did, nor never will disappoint the expectations of the poor. He promised Canaan to his people, and into Canaan he brought them. They often grieved and vexed his Holy Spirit by doubting his word; but he did not suffer his promise to fail. No: "God is not a man that he should lie." What he has promised that also he will perform.

It is upon God as a God of truth that the hopes and expectations of the people of God rest; and it is from this source, that they derive all their comforts and consolations, their happiness, their peace, their joy.

Paul in his sixth chapter to the Hebrews, referring to the honour which Jehovah conferred upon Abraham's faith, speaks of the strong consolation which believers should enjoy, who, like Abraham, believe the divine promises. Faith lays hold on the promise, or rather, on the promiser; and so keeps hold until that which is promised is performed. Thus, the father of the faithful," after he had patiently endured, received the promise." "For God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

Old testament saints built their faith upon old testament promises. Who can conceive the happiness which the venerable patriarch felt, as he folded up the promise of a covenant God in his bosom, and as he turned the bright eye of faith to the glorious day of Messiah? "Abraham," said the blessed Jesus to the faithless Jews, 66 saw my day, and was glad." Prophets believed and wrote, and spoke of him; and saints believing their report, watched for him.

Truth, like so many sun-beams, pointed to him; and at length, the aged Simeon, who had waited for the consolation of Israel, caught the Holy One in his arms, and with eyes glistening with rapturous joy, exclaimed, (having blessed the God of truth) "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." There is verily a happiness, a joy, a peace connected with faith, which none but believers know. True faith is precious faith, and like gold it shall be tried in the furnace; but more precious than gold, it shall come forth from the fire as purified seven times. That which Jehovah promised to Abraham in Isaac, Simeon, with joy unspeakable, saw performed. Abraham enjoyed the substance by faith; Simeon at last enjoyed it in sight. Primitive christians, in their profession of faith, waded through deep sorrows; but in their deepest sorrows they had great joys. They were as believers are in all ages, witnesses for God; they are witnesses to his truth, as well as to his faithfulness; their happiness springs from faith in his promises, and a firm reliance on their performances, and to all these as his witnesses, they "set to their seal that God is

true." What renders the divine promises so precious is, that faithfulness will assuredly perform them. There have been ever since Jehovah had a church upon earth, enraged Balaks and infatuated Balaams, who would have gladly cursed it, but could not, because God had blessed it.

Tried, tempted, persecuted believer, take courage, trust in God, let his truth be your stay; faithfulness is the girdle of his loins; take hold then, be not afraid. Remember, thy God cannot, will not deny himself: he is faithful, who has promised, who will also perform it. O what a shame it is for christians to doubt. How dishonouring to the God of truth! How vexing to the Spirit of truth; and O, how offensive to the word of truth.

My tempted brother, my tempted doubting sister, rely upon it, Jesus means what he says. Let not a poor, unhappy Balaam, (who never for a moment rejoiced in the truth) outrun you here. He knew that God could not lie; and that what he had spoken he would assuredly perform; and you that profess to believe in this God of truth, go doubting and fearing, and hanging down your heads like bulrushes from day to day. Truth and faithfulness are linked together. If a man is a man of truth, it will be known by his faithfully performing what he has promised, and this a faithful God will assuredly do.

A life of believing is a life of rejoicing. True faith relies simply, but firmly upon truth; on that which God has said that he will most certainly do. Believers, thus go up through the wilderness of this world all the way to heaven, leaning upon the promises of a faithful God.

A life of faith upon the Son of God is a blessed joyful life. Peter saith, "whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.' 99

A life of faith upon the truth and faithfulness of Jehovah is a secure life. Balaam saw Israel's security, nor could he move his tongue against him. So secure is the believer's life that it is hid with Christ in God. The Israel of God are blessed of God, and who shall curse ? Mourning soul, believe in Christ, and all is well. Every step you take in your journey toward the heavenly Canaan, will, to your observing eye, be a fresh discovery of Jehovah's faithfulness; and you will be constrained to acknowledge, to the glory of his holy name, the truth which Joshua uttered in his farewell exhortation to the children of Israel, "And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you: all are come to pass with you, and not one thing hath failed thereof," Josh. xxiii. 14.

Confide, then, in all his promises; and in a little while, all that he has promised in his word, you shall be put into the possession of:

"not one thing shall fail." O christian, cast all your fears away. That God who has led you thus far in truth and in faithfulness, will not fail nor forsake you now. O no; all that you have to do is, to trust in God, to believe in his promises, and to confide in his faithfulness; "for God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Then why, my soul, Why should'st thou doubt his love at last,

With anxious thoughts perplex'd?

Who sav'd thee in the troubles past,

Will save thee in the rest:

Will save till at the latest hour,
With more than conquest blest;
I soar beyond temptation's power,
To my Redeemer's breast."

Waltham Abbey.

R. G.

REPLY TO THE QUERIES PROPOUNDED BY H. P. O. In the December Number, page 376, Vol. 9.

Mr. Editor,

WILL you allow me to attempt a reply to the very interesting enquiries of H. P. O. in your last Number; and as I am connected with the established church, my reply, may, perhaps, be the more seemly and agreeable to himself and to his pastor, should it come under his notice.

I must confess, that I do think ministers of the gospel often unintentionally "wound their weak brethren," by statements and expressions not sufficiently clear, and of which Satan is always ready to take advantage.

The first question proposed by H. P. O. is, "Can sin do the believer no harm?" My answer is, the believer's eternal salvation is secured, together with his person, in Christ, his living Head; therefore, that can never be shaken. With respect to his time-state, if permitted to fall into sin, some good must result, such as greater watchfulness, as in the case of Peter; or a deeper acquaintance with the plague of his own heart, and consequent humility, as with David; but if H. P. O. considers, loss of communion with the Eternal Three, want of peace of mind, absence of comfort, and a guilty wounded conscience, to be included under the term harm, he will find the following scriptures plainly declaring, that sin is the direct cause of all these, Isa. lix. 2. Ps. li. 1-15. Matt. xxvi. 75.

The second question, "Whether a believer under some trying dispensation, cares not for sin, but only for the absence of God?" -May be answered by three quotatons from scripture, the language of believers in similar circumstances. "How many are mine iniquities and sins, make me to know my transgression and my sins. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy ? Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro, and wilt thou pursue the dry

stubble? For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth," Job xiii. 23-27. "Mine iniquities have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up," Ps. xl. 12. "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me

from the body of this death?" Rom. vii. 24.

On the third question, "Is God the actual worker of sin, as well as grace in men ?" I should observe, in the first place, that sin, or a want of conformity to God's law, being natural to all the offspring of Adam, there is no necessity for supernatural agency to set it to work; but grace, as it is commonly called, is nothing else than the actings of the Holy Ghost, (who dwells in the church as in a temple, 1 Cor. vi. 19.) by or through the renewed faculties of the soul, and is altogether supernatural. But as there are many passages of scripture, which shew that sin takes place, not merely by a bare permission, but by God's previous determination, as Gen. xlv. 8. Exod. vii. 3. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. 2 Chron. x. 15. 1 Kings xxii. 19-23. Isa. xix. 24. 2 Thess. ii. 11. Acts ii. 23. and iv. 28. we must endeavour to separate the wheat from the chaff; and then it will appear that God is the actual worker of these events, so far as there is any good in them, or intended by them, but no further. And first, I would remark, that God is the author of every action, good or bad, simply considered as an action, Acts xvii. 28. ; but our own evil hearts are the authors of the sin that is in every action. Again, as one sin is made the punishment of another, God may be said to be the author of it; and as it is intended for a trial of our faith, or a propitiation for sin, as was the death of Christ; and thus, to use the words of archbishop Usher, as a skilful apothecary makes a medicine by the mixture of poison, which is not yet poisonous but medicinal; so the Lord in guiding and managing the poison of sin, draweth treacle from the poison, and such sort, as that the sins of men turn to his glory and the good of his church." If H. P. O. will carefully examine the passages above quoted, the cause from which they sprung, and the end to which they tended, will be seen to be good, as regarded God, but evil, as regarded the men who committed them; and thus, I trust, he will be enabled to receive what belongs to God therein.

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My reply to the fourth question, "Is damnation as irrespective of sin, as salvation is of works?" shall be in the words of that eminent scholar and divine, Dr. John Gill, in his matchless work, entitled, "The Cause of God and Truth." "Now let it be observed, that although God decreed man's destruction before his creation, yet he decreed to damn no man but for sin; and though he has willed or decreed that sin should come to pass, or that man should fall into sin, yet he wills this, not by effecting but permitting it." Vol. 3. p. 34.

Having, as I think, replied to the fifth question, in the answer to the third, with which it appears to me to be blended, I shall only observe, that the will of Jehovah is always one and the same, but that that part of it which is revealed is to be the rule of our conduct; and therefore, signifies what the perfections of Deity demand from the VOL X.-No. 118.]

C