seek for it. You want mercy to pardon your sins, to renew your heart, and save your soul, to deliver you from hell, to prepare you for heaven, and give you a place at God's right hand. Mercy is your great want. Do you feel this? Do you desire it? Are you in real earnest in seeking it?

MERCY MAY BE OBTAINED. Saul of Tarsus obtained it. The dying thief obtained it. Guilty Mary obtained it. So may you. God is rich in mercy. He is plenteous in mercy. His mercy is higher than the highest mountains, and deeper than the depths of the ocean. It flows to sinners freely, but it can only flow through Jesus. He opened the channel.

He removed all obstacles out of the way.. If f you really feel your need of mercy; if you heartily desire to find mercy -then go to the Lord as on a throne of grace; do not attempt to take anything with you, but go just as you are. Confess your sins frankly. The sins of your past life, sins of thought, word, and deed. Keep nothing back, but tell the Lord all you feel, and all you fear. Plead with Him as for your life. Plead with Him to have mercy on you on account of what Jesus Christ has done and suffered. Place no dependence on your pleading, but depend on Jesus Christ alone. View him as loving sinners—as living for sinners-as dying for sinners-as pleading before God for sinners. Remember, His blood satisfies God's justice, for all the sins of all

the sinners who exercise confidence in it, and plead it before God. Think of those precious words, "The blood of Jesus Christ

his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." All sin! Every sinner, who trusts in it, and pleads it before God. No mercy for any one, but through Jesus; but mercy for any one, for every one that seeks it through Jesus. Precious Saviour! thou hast directed the guilty to plead thy name with thy Father, for the pardon of all their sins; and thou hast pledg ed thy word, that whatsoever we ask of the Father in thy name, He will give it us. 0 send thy Holy Spirit, to convince us of our sins, to shew us our need of mercy, and to lead us to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need.

Reader, as a sinner, you need mercy, and you must obtain mercy, or perish. What say you? Are you prepared now to say with the poor dying man, referred to at the com mencement of these remarks, "I WILL NOT CEASE TO PRAY UNTIL I FIND MERCY ?" This is the state of mind we wish to produce. To this resolution we want you to be brought. God bids you seek. He promises that you shall find. He only wants you to confess your sins, venture on Jesus, and be forgiven. Hear His own word, "He that confesseth, and forsaketh his sin, shall find mercy.' Listen to the testimony of his servant, who spoke from experience, "If we confess our

sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yes, He is faithful to His word, where He has said, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." He is just to the

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merits of His Son, for "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him;" and now, we have redemption through His blood; the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace.' He is a just God, and yet a Saviour. He laid our sins on Jesus, that He may not have to charge them to our account. He punished our sins in Jesus, that He might not have to punish us for them; and now God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Thus the sinner has every encouragement to say, "I WILL NOT CEASE TO PRAY UNTIL I FIND MERCY," for he cannot seek in vain. God's justice is satisfied with the death of His Son. God's law is magnified by the obedience of His Son. There is nothing to prevent the forth-flowing of God's mercy to sinners, and it is in His heart to have mercy upon them. Nor does He look for any reason in the sinner why He should shew him mercy, but says, I will have mercy, because I will have mercy; and I will have compas

sion, because I will have compassion." Nor does He make any exception in the case of the sinner, for He says, " I will have mercy,

on whom I will have mercy; and I will have compassion, on whom I will have compassion." And who are they? "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for He will abundantly pardon." But may not some be refused? No, not one; for Jesus says most solemnly, "I will in no wise cast out;" and the apostle assures us that, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Whosoever! What class is that? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord: no matter who they are, nor where they come from, if they seek the Lord they shall find Him. Mercy, then, may be had. Mercy may be had by sinners, by the vilest sinners. God excepts none. Exclusion is the act of man, not of God. "Whosoever will, may come, and take of the fountain of the water of life freely.' O that every reader may be led to say, I WANT MERCY;' and to determine in the strength of the Lord, "I WILL NOT CEASE TO PRAY, UNTIL I FIND MERCY."

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GRATITUDE AND PRAISE.

I WISH to be grateful, for I am sure it becomes me, and God requires it of me. But, alas! I have a most ungrateful heart, and I find it difficult to preserve a thankful frame. I feel at this moment, that nothing would become me like thankfulness, and that I ought to praise the Lord. All things considered, few can have greater cause. What was I by nature ? What am I by grace? What shall I be in glory? What inquiries are these? Surely, if followed out, they would awaken gratitude even in such a heart as mine. Yet, they do not exactly fall in with the train of thought that is now occupying my mind.

am thinking of God's distinguishing goodness to me, as a creature. I look around me, and I see one lame, another blind, another deaf, others insane, and others deformed; but I have the use of all my senses, I am not deformed, nor has reason been dethroned. I might have been a drivelling idiot, or a blind beggar, or unable to take a step without pain. Small as my talents are, how many have smaller! Humble as my station is, how many are beneath me!