amalgamation. Hence the dearth and the deadness that has obtained so fearful a hold upon even the Lord's own Spirit-taught people, whose condition, at present, is too like that of the Laodiceans, of whom the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, said, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

These things, dear reader, are comparatively easy to speak or write; but they embrace, and there is that involved in them, which bespeaks the almost absolute necessity for times of test and trial, a condition of things in which the precious must be severed from the vile-the people of God known and distinguished from the people of the world. Oh, where is the truly spiritual reader, whom we now address, who does not fall under the observations we have just advanced? Who that knows himself, but is prepared to acknowledge what an undue weight, and all but all-engrossing influence, the world has over him? The cares of a family, the anxieties of trade, the relative position with one's fellow-men, to say nothing of bodily ailments and infirmities. Oh, how do all such

"Divide our wandering hearts,"

and leave the merest tittle for God! Who will not say,

"Where is the blessedness I knew

When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-reviving view
Of Jesus and His word?

"What peaceful hours I then enjoyed―
How sweet their memory still;
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill."

Yet we must not overlook the fact (although we would not in any
wise make light of the coldness, or carnality, or worldliness, of which
we have spoken) that, by contrast, it tends to show forth the wondrous
nature of rich and free and sovereign grace, as well as the astounding
compassion, forbearance, and long-suffering of a covenant-keeping
God. We should know little of the nature and extent of His love
and mercy,
dear reader, but for being led by the Holy Ghost into a
discovery of our ingratitude, unbelief, vileness, and utter baseness and
depravity. It is this knowledge that will endear the declaration in
happy and heartfelt experience: "By grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast."

We have, secondly, to look at the posture which the Lord commends "Then look up, and lift up your heads." Now, first, how distinctly this bespeaks the severing line between God's dear people and the people of the world. The very things which were to be

the sorest and the most destructive calamities to the latter, the Lord Himself testifies of as being grounds for the greatest possible rejoicing in the case of the former. This distinction is as marked as what occurred in regard to the Israelites and the Egyptians. Whilst there was "darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt—yea, there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days;" yet "all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.' Moreover, the pillar of the cloud, which came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, was a cloud and darkness to the one people, whilst it gave light by night to the other. How well may these facts cheer the hearts and rebuke the fears of the Lord's people, with respect to impending calamities. "For what shall injure you,

Ye hedged about by God ?"

Is Jehovah now, or will He ever be, less "a wall of fire round about His Zion, and the glory in the midst of her," than in the prophet's day? Assuredly not.

But observe further, beloved, with respect to the posture here enjoined, that it denotes courage and confidence-the very opposite of that fear and dread and awful apprehension of which the unregenerate, and those who must inevitably fall a prey to the calamities which are about to take place, are the subjects. Oh, how great a distinction, and how vast a difference, is here again observable between the Church and the world! The very same events which overwhelm and destroy the enemies of God and His truth, only tend to inspire His own dear people with love and gratitude and a holy dependence. The language of the 46th Psalm is not a mere form of words-an untried theory; but, again and again, since the psalmist's day, has it been turned to the most practical and blessed account. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." Times of ease, pleasurable circumstances, scenes and seasons, without anything special to excite alarm or exercise faith, are not the times for testing the love and bringing into operation the graces of the Spirit, in the experience of the Lord's dear people. Oh, no, but on the contrary; it is in seasons of danger and distress that the work of the Holy Ghost is tested. It is then that that work stands out in bold and blessed relief against all the weakness and frailty and sin of His people.

Further, the posture here enjoined implies hope and expectation upon the part of the Lord's people; and, with respect to this, the Lord has graciously declared, that "the expectation of the poor shall not be cut off;" yea, that it "shall not perish for ever." He never did, and never will, disappoint His people. He has too great an

interest in them-He has too much love for them-His character and oath are too sacredly engaged on their behalf, for Him to fail in the fulfilment of His covenant engagements. "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." "He is not a man, that He should lie; nor the son of man, that He should repent." "He hath sworn by Himself, because He could swear by no greater, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us in the Gospel." Moreover, we are told, with respect to this hope or expectation, "We are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Again we read, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost."

Reader, what a blessed boon-of what inestimable value-is a good hope through grace; and yet, alas! how prone are we to undervalue this gracious gift of a covenant God. Oh, to think of how this hope has been instrumental in sustaining the Lord's dear people under that almost infinite number and variety of trials and temptations, of which each and all have more or less been the subject. True it is that, under certain circumstances, some may be ready to exclaim, " My hope is perished from the Lord;" but, for most part, how very temporary is such a state of mind. How very, very soon their hopes are revived-how soon are they inspired with fresh confidence. How soon to follow a season of darkness and seeming desertion is that most sacred injunction-"Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

Now, beloved, upon these covenant-grounds, and upon the rich experience of all the Lord's dear family in every age and generation, what abundant reason is there for their thus "looking up, and lifting up their heads." What have they, in reality, to fear? what cause have they for apprehension? Is not their Friend and Benefactor, their Husband, their Brother, their Father, their All in all, He who has the direction and the managememt and the absolute control of all and everything that shall occur? Can aught happen without His permission? Has Satan or the world the veriest iota of power but with that permission? Is it not true that "out of Him came forth the corner, out of Him the nail, out of Him the battle-bow, out of Him every oppressor together"? Hence, nought can come by chance or at a peradventure, but all by divine permission and appointment, to issue in the glory of Jehovah, and in the well-being of His dear people. Oh, if, dear reader, we could but look at all our trials and all our enemies in this light: as doing a work appointed

for them-not for their good, but for ours-how very differently should we view matters to the light in which we are wont now to regard them. A dear old pilgrim once said to us, that upon calling on one occasion on a dear tried saint, he found her as he entered her room, constantly ejaculating, "Bless God for the devil! bless God for the devil!" When asked the meaning of such an expression, she said, "He had helped her to such a gracious deliverance; for his worrying and tormenting had brought her to the throne of grace, and there the Lord had graciously met with her, and delivered her poor soul." Hence, reader, if this dear old saint had cause for blessing God for the devil, surely we have equal reason for blessing God for every enemy, and every trial, and every temptation with which He may have seen fit that we should be exercised. Oh, then, with respect to the maintenance of this blessed Gospel hope, which has never yet been suffered to fail us, how well may we sing of its great and gracious Implanter and Maintainer:

"This God is the God we adore,

Our faithful, unchangeable Friend,
Whose love is as large as His power,
And neither knows measure nor end.

""Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,

Whose Spirit must guide us safe home;
We'll praise Him for all that is past,

And trust Him for all that's to come."

O Thou blessed and eternal Lord, enable us so to do, we pray Thee. Do lift us up, we implore Thee, above all the sorrows and afflictions and trials and privations of the pathway, unto a steady dependence upon, and a holy childlike looking to, Thyself! Be Thou our Divine Sustainer, our merciful Upholder, our gracious Comforter, our ever-constant Friend, Companion, All and in all!

Lastly, beloved, there is the prospect held forth in these blessed words: "For your redemption draweth nigh." By which we are not simply to understand the redemption by blood, through and by which alone every vessel of mercy is acquitted from all law-charges and demands, and by which all his sins, iniquities, and transgressions are atoned for, and he is "accounted righteous" before a holy God, but the redemption which the believer is here encouraged and exhorted to look for is a full, final, uninterrupted, and everlasting freedom from all the sin, the sorrow, the suffering, the turmoil, the travail of the time-state. Oh, blessed deliverance this! Oh, glorious redemption this! A deliverance and a redemption which not only frees him, and that for ever, from all and every thing that causes him to "groan, being burdened," occupying as he does the body of this death," but ensures to him "an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." No thoughts can conceive, much less language express, what this redemption will be. No more the Canaanites in the land. No dark days, no gloomy nights.

No aches, no pains. No darkness, no doubts. No tempting devil, no ensnaring world, no treacherous heart. No more the veiled face of Him whom one's soul loves. No frail, failing tabernacle. No dark Providences. No distressing fears. No death in prospect. But all these former things for ever and ever to have passed away, and the ransomed spirit, in the immediate presence of God and the Lamb, seated before the throne with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the midst of the general assembly and Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, singing, and that for ever and ever, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father! unto Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Well may every redeemed soul, in the blissful prospect, exclaim :

Reader, may this be your distinguishing mercy, as well as the writer's, when life's short day is o'er. So prays

Yours, in the bonds of the covenant,

St. Luke's, Bedminster, Jan. 13th, 1869.

THE EDITOR.

A NEW YEAR'S PRAYER.*

[We again affectionately recommend these leaflets of our aged sister in Christ to the adoption of our readers,

Another mile-stone on the road,
And twelve months nearer Home,
Nearer to that serene abode,

Where sorrow cannot come :
How many unbelieving fears,
Have sunk our hearts in gloom,
While passing on from year to
year,
To our eternal Home.

Thy ways, O God, are in the deep,
Thy Church is safe in Thee,
Thy mighty pow'r will ever keep,
And set Thy people free;
Though men despise Thy holy word,
And set up Popish forms,

Thou art the Everlasting God,
And they poor sinful worms.

Birmingham.

for enclosures in letters.-ED.]

While all things hasten to decay,
Thy word shall still endure,
Though heav'n and earth shall pass

away,

Thy promises are sure:
Save us from unbelieving fears,
And guide us by Thine eye,
Lord, wipe away each sinful tear,
Suppress each rising sigh.

Oh, stay our trembling hearts on Thee,
Our Father and our Friend,
Thy lovely count'nance let us see,
Till coming judgments end.
Then shall we see Thee as Thou art,
And know as we are known,
When, one in spirit and in heart,
We bow before the throne.

E. B. M.

*To be had post-free of Mrs. Moens, 47, Bath Row, Birmingham, 6d. per dozen, or

3s. 6d. per hundred.