the graces of the Spirit, and brings them into lively exercise. Love will never fail: it is the fulfilling of the law it removes the power of unbelief and makes sin truly hateful. It is love that lifts me above the curse of the law, the wrath of God, and the forebodings of eternal death. Love teaches me to despise the frowns of the world; it enlarges my heart, and produces repentance that shall never be repented of again. Love is the feast of fat things; the river of life; it keeps my soul in perfect peace; it is springing up in the heart of him that believeth in Jesus unto eternal life. Love quenches all the fiery darts of the devil, and all the lusts of the flesh. By this love we shall be kept blameless in body, soul, and spirit, before God. This shall be the support of our soul on a dying bed; and this love of God we shall enjoy to all eternity. In the manifest favour of God our mountain stands strong; it is in His absence we are troubled. It was in the sensible presence of Christ that the disciples' hearts burned within them; but in His absence we fall into great darkness. This should teach us two things; first, that it is a distinguishing mercy of God for us at any time to enjoy His favour; secondly, that we can not retain it by any power that we possess, which should teach us to look up to God alone in Christ Jesus for His presence to be manifest in the most lively sense in our minds; that we may continually enjoy the blessed state of them that know the joyful sound of free grace flowing through the Redeemer's blood--that we may walk in the light of His countenance all the day long, and make mention of Christ's righteousness only -that we may go on from day to day receiving out of His fulness grace upon grace, that we may be rooted and grounded, settled, strengthened and established in Christ, and so be delivered from the works of the law. "Now he that is entered into Christ, ceaseth from his own works as God did from His," being complete in Christ. This is our only place of perpetual rest, and to this I hope it will please the good Lord to bring you: but till you enjoy it, you will at all times experience dark seasons. Yet be not discouraged, for light will come in the morning. Were I to write much to you on the subject of darkness, I should present to your imagination things so gloomy and wretched, which make their appearance in the absence of the true light; such awful scenes of wickedness in the human heart as would make you shudder! The wickedness of the heart cannot be easily set forth, when the unclean beasts of the forest do creep forth. There is unbelief, the root from whence all evil proceeds: there is calling in question the truth of the Bible-the merits of the Son of God-the love of God to His church-the operation of the Spiritthe very being of a God. The fool hath said in his heart "There is no God." It is by the discovery of these things I am made a witness "that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked;" that "the thoughts of the heart are only evil, and that continually;" and that "he that trusts in his own heart is a fool.” In this darkness I have envied the happiness of every living creature, being filled with all the blasphemies of Satan. I have had the same thoughts Job's wife had, with every evil thought, I think, that ever passed through the mind of any human creature, and never did I find that I possessed any power to relieve myself, until it pleased the good Lord to manifest His love to my soul and chase the powers of darkness away; causing me to enjoy His loving-kindness, in which I could rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. While this lasted I could go on happily, and under such visits have hardly known whether I have been in the body or out. I divided that part of your letter which respects yourself and God's dealings with your soul, into three parts: first, the manifest love of God to your soul: secondly, the darkness that followed-this was the way the Lord was pleased to lead me; thirdly, the only refuge of the soul in the dark. It is an unspeakable mercy to every quickened soul, that before he beholds the light of life, Christ Jesus, he has the privilege of going to God in prayer in his sins, uncovered, and in his blood: and in this state the Holy Spirit is pleased to indite his petitions. God is pleased to receive them in the merits of Christ, and to manifest His great mercy to the soul by enlightening him in the knowledge of Christ; by giving him hope, and encouraging him at all times to come to a throne of grace, in all cases and conditions, in the midst of his sins. In my last I endeavoured to draw your attention to the way in which it has pleased God to appear for His people in their greatest distress and difficulties; making manifest the most conspicuous deliverances in answer to prayer. These things must be observed, or how shall we come to live by faith? and till then we can only live by sense, just as my good friend does when the Lord is pleased to shine in her soul. When the soul is taken up into oneness with Christ, the life is then enjoyed; there is the light too in the Word to guide my way; a straight way which there is no turning out. This is hard to be believed by those who hover about the mount; but I hope it will please the Lord to lead you to walk only in this way, and you will find it a way of continual pleasantness, and the paths peace. In this way you will see the blessedness of all the invitations and promises-the comfort of the word—the security of the oath-the blessings of the everlasting covenant, which contains the fulness of a sinner's salvation. Access to a throne of grace is a privilege peculiar to the elect of God: it is what no natural son of Adam ever did enjoy, or ever will in that state! It belongs to the election of grace, and is made known by regeneration in the heart; one blessed fruit of the Spirit's dwelling in our heart is the great power of God manifest in delivering us out of the kingdom of Satan, and translating us into the kingdom of God's dear Son, by Whom we have access into the presence of the Father through the merits of Christ alone. One great evidence of our election is, the faith and power of God, by which we believe. "He that believeth hath the witness in himself." In my last I attempted to show you, that the throne of grace was the only safe and certain way for any to go in, carrying all their troubles there, whether of mind, body, or estate, and I am a witness that the Lord is a God that heareth and answereth the cries of the needy. By the Lord's answer I have in a measure been enabled to live by faith; and by the gracious answers He shall be pleased to give you, you shall be enabled to trust in the Lord daily, and to know that, what He is to you in the most prosperous state of your soul, He is in the darkest-that He is "the same yesterday, to-day and for ever." Give my best respects to Mrs. K., and I hope from this time to her death she will know nothing, in point of dependence for salvation, but Christ and Him crucified. Tell her it is a great satisfaction to me to believe that my sins were placed to the account of Christ, and that in His payment I obtained a full discharge. My kind love to the little babe that used to refuse the breast of consolation. I am happy to learn that she grows and begins to run alone. Tell her to look well to her standing; to see that it is in Christ alone, to look straight forward unto Him, and if she should fall down, to go to the fountain to wash, and not to dirty water. Yours in the Lord Jesus, N. F. NAMES AND CHARACTERS OF OUR GRACIOUS LORD. (Continued from page 341.) His names are like ointments of holiest savour; } The Bearer of Burdens we could not have borne ; Thy bountiful mercy, that floweth to me, Hath depths that no wisdom created may trace, And heights that are lost in the heavens of Thy grace. C. H. M. THE SONGS OF HEZEKIAH. "The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my songs on the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." Isaiah xxxviii. 20. No. 3. (Psalm cxvi. Continued from page 310.) HE storm over, the tempest-tossed soul can review its past perils and remember its feelings and its fears in connection with its deliverances. It is thus Hezekiah details his experience in what he had gone through. “I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, All men are liars." Psalm cxvi. 10, 11. What was the nature of his faith? What that of his hasty unbelief? Hezekiah's faith rested, in its chief aspect, in the promise of the Messiah, and the resurrection from death in union with Him; for the apostle says, "We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you," 2 Cor. iv. 13, 14. In thus speaking Paul quotes distinctly what we regard as Hezekiah's words in the Psalm under consideration. Nor will the fact of the gracious king's unwillingness to die invalidate the fact of his firm belief in the resurrection of the just. Job sank quite as low, yet affirmed his faith in the same glorious truth. Chap. xix. 24-26 : although Dr. Kitto and others have cast a doubt on the meaning of Job's words. But further, Hezekiah believed the promise of Jehovah's national covenant, that long “life and favour" were in general the portion of : those who observed His worship, whatever exception to the rule might in the mystery of His providence occasionally be exhibited. But his own case seemed to form a painful exception, and the rising power of unbelief led him in his haste to say, "All men are liars." That is, all who had spoken to him of long life and prosperity in the service of Jehovah had apparently deceived him as his words in Isaiah xxxviii. declare: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave, I am deprived of the residue of my years: Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: He will cut me off with pining sickness from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me,' vers. 10, 12. : In the bitter hasty cry of "All men are liars,' "Isaiah himself may also have been included; for had he not written: "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings?" chap. iii. 10; and again: "If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land?" Chap. i. 19. But how could Hezekiah thus feast if he were to be cut off in the prime of his life? It is thus that the Lord's providence often seems at variance with His promises; and "no man knoweth love or hatred (on the part of God towards him) by all that is before him" in prosperity or adversity. This crossing of the hands in the bestowment of the blessing has called forth many a "Not so, my father," from perplexed Reason; and it has invariably been silenced by, "I know it, My son, I know it," Gen. xlviii. 18, 19. Nor shall the charge of falsehood or faithlessness ever rest on the dealings of a covenant God; for "His word shall stand, His truth prevail; And not one jot or tittle fail." How powerfully is this illustrated in the succeeding sentence : "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"-Words perfectly analagous to the king's language in Isaiah: "What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me and Himself hath done it." Chap. xxxviii. 15. The resemblance between the two utterances is too great to admit of much doubt on the part of any that they came from the lips of the same person. O, it is blessed to be so vanquished by the Lord's goodness as to be at a loss what to say and what to do in honour of His holy name. A broken heart, a melting spirit, an overflowing soul can only be produced by His loving kindness and tender mercy. Overwhelmed by the display of the Lord's regard for him, Hezekiah sinks in abasement at His feet, and while utterly at a loss to make any worthy return, exclaims, "I will take the cup of salva tion, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows un |