"BUT KNOW THAT THE LORD HATH SET APART HIM THAT IS GODLY, F HIMSELF."-Psalm iv. 3.

No gifts, no duties, no natural endowments, will evidence right in heaven; but the least measure of holiness will secur heaven to the soul. As holiness is the soul's best evidenc for heaven, so it is a continued spring of comfort to it on th way thither. The purest and the sweetest pleasures in th world are the results of holiness. Till we come to live holily we never live comfortably. Heaven is epitomized in holiness and, to say no more, it is the peculiar mark by which God ha visibly distinguished His own from other men. (Psalm iv. 3 "The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself, as if He had said, This is the man, and that the woman, to whom I intend to be good for ever; this is a man for me O holiness! how surpassingly glorious art thou!

"FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAITH THE LORD; I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MIND, AND WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE TO THEM A GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE TO ME A PEOPLE."-Heb. viii. 10.

BID her beware of a bondage spirit. Fear is the natural issue of such a spirit. The antidote is love. The voice of fear is,

"If I had done this, if I had avoided that, how well it had been with me!" I know this hath been her vain reasoning. Love argueth in this wise: "What a Christ have I! What a Father in and through Him! What a name hath my Father: merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin! What a

nature hath my Father: He is love; free in it, unchangeable, infinite!" What a covenant between Him and Christ, for all the seed, for every one, wherein He undertakes all, and the poor soul nothing. The new covenant is grace to, or upon the soul, to which it (the soul) is passive and receptive. I'll do

law

away their sins, I'll write my I'll put it in their hearts, they shall never depart from me. (see Heb. viii.) This commends the love of God; it's Christ dying for men without strength; for men whilst sinners, whilst enemies, and shall we seek for the root of our comforts within us? What God hath done, what He is to us in Christ, this is the root of our comfort. In this is stability; in us is weakness. Acts of obedience are not perfect, and therefore yield not perfect grace. Faith, as an act, yields it not; but only as it carries us into Him, who is our perfect rest and peace, in whom we are accounted of, and received by the Father, even as Christ Himself. This is our high calling. Rest we here, and here only. OLIVER CROMWELL.

February 4th.

"FOR A DAY IN THY COURTS IS BETTER THAN A THOUSAND.

1 HAD RATHER BE A DOORKEEPER IN THE HOUSE OF MY GOD, THAN DWELL IN THE TENTS OF WICKEDNESS."-Psalm lxxxiv. 10.

How great is the mercy of God, in providing these houses of prayer, where two or three may meet together in His name, and find their gracious Lord in the midst of them, saluting them, as in the days of His flesh, with His accustomed bene

diction, "Peace be unto you!" What a relief is it to come into these hallowed walls, out of the strife and turmoil of the world, and commit our cause, and our hopes, and our fears, to the care of God! What a comfort to leave behind us for a brief interval all the conflicting interests, and the entangled devices of perishable life, and to raise our thoughts to that happier time when brother shall no longer strive with brother; when men shall be all of one mind in one house; when none shall hunger or thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them by day, nor the cold by night. What a miserable scene of incessant struggle and worldliness would this land be without its Sabbath and its house of prayer. Abused are these blessings by so many, despised and trodden under foot, and desecrated, as are too often the holy things of this house and of the Lord's own day, they yet shed a light and a religious cheerfulness over this world's scene, even in our imperfect observance of their duties, which those who value Christian privileges prize as their bread of life, and the best sustenance of the soul. They are the salt of our land; they keep alive the fire of religious feeling in the altar of the heart, they give a respite from earthly cares, and open a glimpse of heaven to our sight; they speak, as it were, a perpetual protest against infidelity and vice; they set up a standard for the Gospel; they oppose a temporary check to the foes of the soul; they remind man that there is no peace or spiritual prosperity but through reconciliation with God, and in communion with Him.

February 5th.

ARCHBISHOP SUMNER.

"FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE."-John iii. 16.

THERE is more of God's bounty expressed in that one verse, "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son,"

than there is in the whole volume of the world; it is an incomprehensible so; a so that all the angels in heaven cannot analyse; and few comment upon, or understand the dimensions of this so. In creation, mere nothing was vanquished to bring us into being; in redemption, sullen enmity was conquered for the enjoyment of our restoration; in creation, He subdued a nullity to make us creatures; in redemption, His goodness overcomes His omnipotent justice to restore us to felicity. A word from the mouth of goodness inspired the dust of men's bodies with a living soul; but the blood of His Son must be shed, and the laws of natural affection seem to be overturned, to lay the foundation of our renewed happiness. In the first, heaven did but speak, and the earth was formed; in the second, heaven itself must sink to earth, and be clothed with dusty earth, to redeem man's dust to its original state. It was a more expensive goodness than what was laid out in creation; the redemption of one soul is precious-much more costly than the whole fabric of the world, or as many worlds as the understanding of angels, in their utmost extent, can conceive to be created for the effecting of this, God parts with His dearest treasure, and His Son eclipses His choicest glory.

CHARNOCK.

"Oh! for this love, let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break;
And all harmonious human tongues
The Saviour's praises speak.

Angels, assist our mighty joys,

Strike all your harps of gold;

But when you raise your highest notes,
His love can ne'er be told."

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