meekness before the eyes of sinners.

He appears

"as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." You shall find Him in a manger. You shall see Him going down to Nazareth to be subject unto His creatures. The King of the whole earth comes riding on an ass. Girding Himself with a towel, He poureth water into a bason, and stooping down to His disciples, He washes their feet, and wipes them with the towel wherewith He is girded. Without opening His mouth, see Him, going up the hill to Calvary, and carrying the heavy wood of His own Cross.

IV. O my soul,

this Same Jesus" is near

thee. All that is included in "the Name, Which is above every name," is very nigh to thee. The Spirit of God in Christ, Which is as human as it is Divine, and full of "Goodwill" towards thee, besets thee before and behind. Thou art in the very midst of all that is tender and compassionate towards thee. God, even thine own God, full of the help which thou needest, is close to thee, without, and still closer to thee, within. Turn thyself wholly to Him, open thy soul to Him; for near as He is to thee, He can yet be far nearer. Renounce thyself, and in penitence and meek desire, attract to thee the virtues of the Eternal Name, and make

them thine own. They wait, they long to be owned by thee, that they may own thee. They long to enrich thee, that thy peace may be, not in things mutable, but in things immutable. Sweetness dwells in the rose, and heat in burning coals; but more essentially does God dwell in those who love Him. There is no conscious life in the rose, to love its own sweetness, no purpose to retain it; but souls love That which dwelleth in them, and That which dwelleth in them loves them. It is God; It is the Lord Jesus; It is the Holy Spirit. With God, it is a small thing to give love and wisdom, holiness and beauty, power and patience, humility and glory, to His creatures: He gives Himself to them, and all virtues and beatitudes, in Himself.

V. There are seasons in which the children of God are quite conscious of His awful, blessed nearness to them. For example, when they long after a better spirit than their own:-(which longing, they know and are sure, does not originate with their own spirit):—when they master their own will, by the uprising of a holy beam, from a deeper place in them than their own will:when their whole soul fills with awe and sweetness, and they become meekly passive to the

Holy invading Presence-when in circumstances, calculated to excite and trouble them, they feel, in spite of the agitating circumstances, "a great calm:"-at such times they know that the Divine Loving-kindness is not only better, but nearer to them, than their own life. Great is the intimacy between the sun and our flesh, when he diffuses his heat through and through every atom of our flesh, every drop of our blood; but greater still, far greater, is the intimacy between God and human souls,-the souls that love Him. For their love to Him is His own Love, dwelling in them; and the relation must indeed be close, and not only close, but indissoluble, between God and His own Love.

VI.-Love draws God so mightily, and God yields Himself so freely to love, that the humble souls who love Him are said even to have "boldness in the day of Judgment." God Himself is their boldness. The Holiness of God, in them, is their defence from the judgment of the Divine Holiness. As soon as the soul quits its own life, the Life of God enters in, and possesses that soul. Strictly speaking, the life of man is the Divine Life in him. Hence the repeated teaching of our Lord That, whoever keepeth his fallen life, shall

:

never regain his original life. Nothing therefore can be more full of tenderness than the apparently harsh saying, that, "If any man come to Me, and hate not his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Vacate, turn your back upon, your own apostate life, and receive with open arms the Life which, in the beginning, God gave to man, and has given to him again, in His Son. "This is the record, that God hath given to us Eternal Life, and this Life is in His Son." How strong the house of your spirit will be, how august, how serene, how meekly bold, how boldly meek, when God alone is the life thereof. St. John was so affected by the majesty and glory of one of his departed brethren, the prophets, that he fell down at his feet to worship him. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." This much the Lord assures us, that we, who are now struggling and groaning in these tabernacles of dust, shall presently shine forth as suns, through the indwelling of the Divine Glory.

AIDS TO THOUGHT.

THE cycles and the circles of God's own Eternity are incorporated in that new nature, which God, through His Son, is building up, and establishing in us. Man at present is a poor, weak, corruptible creature, of nature's building; but he is to be "God's building;" and God's building is full of God. To eternity it "cannot be moved.”

GOD prepares of His Goodness for the poor, in order to prepare the poor for His goodness. Our poverty consists not only in being empty of the Divine Goodness; but chiefly, in having no heart thereto. Our poverty is a stubborn fulness, which resists the true riches. Before we can be filled with the riches of God, we must empty ourselves of ourselves. But here is the great difficulty; for we are not willing to sacrifice ourselves unto God. What can be done then? God Himself takes the

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