Jehovah O Lord, thou knowest my heart better than I know it myself: thou knowest whether I am a partaker of thy spirit and grace, for thine eye seeth every precious thing. O Lord, if I am a deceived character, undeceive me, do anything with me, or to me, but do not let me deceive myself, or others; make me appear in that character that I am in thy sight;" wishing to be sifted and probed to the very bottom, that the fallow ground of the heart may be broken up, rather than rest upon any false or delusive influence. The poor soul is afraid of building on a sandy foundation; but has a fervent desire, and that desire goes up in ardent breathings to the Lord, that he may be built upon the rock of eternal ages, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, nor all the corruptions in his own heart, nor all the opposition from the world. Having taught us thus far, the Lord is pleased to carry on his work, giving us a good hope through grace, which is as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast; then we feel a holy hatred to sin, and a holy detestation at sin in ourselves and others, from his fear being implanted in our hearts, and we say, when tempted to evil, with one of old: "I cannot do this great wickedness and sin against God;" and with another tender, childlike christian, 66 so could not I do, because of the fear of the Lord," he could not take aught of the people, though others in power had done so before him. Where the fear of God is in sweet exercise, that dear child will fear sin, and hate sin; not for fear of punishment, but from a much higher principle, a fear of offending

so good and gracious a God, for fear of displeasing his dear Saviour, though he cannot claim him as his Saviour; and a fear of grieving the Holy Spirit of promise, whereby he is sealed unto the day of redemption. The Lord not only implants his fear in our hearts as a proof we are his, by the conquest of his grace, but gives us love. Love is of God, and he that loveth is born of God, and that which is born of God cannot sin, that is, the new nature which he has given, or will in time give, to all the seed of Christ which is perfect in all its parts, being the incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever; but, to our grief, the Canaanite is still in the land, and old nature is not removed, and when the cross of Christ is laid upon him, to mortify the deeds of the body, that we may live, we find, as Paul describes it: "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For, without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but, when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death; furthermore, to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me (Paul) into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank

God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but, with the flesh, the law of sin." Therefore we see the word of God makes, as it were, three distinct natures: first, the old nature, corrupt nature, which we receive by our fall in our federal head, Adam; second, our nature, by natural generation, body and soul; and third, the new nature, the gift of God, which can never die. The soul and body are the seat of warfare; the two contending powers are flesh and spirit. See it beautifully illustrated in Rebekah: two nations were in her womb, of course making three altogether, Rebekah one, the seat of contention; the two boys, representing the old and new natures, one loved, and the other hated, before either of them had done good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand; not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God alone, that sheweth mercy; and again the Shulamite in whom we read was the company of two armies, and every child of God, divinely taught by God the Holy Ghost, will, sooner or later, discover the same in himself. Let him do as Rebekah did, inquire the meaning of the Lord, at a throne of grace, and not reason about it, for reason must submit to divine revelation; we must be brought willing to become fools, that we may be made wise; to be stripped, in order to be clothed; to be emptied, that we may be filled; to be wounded, that we may be healed; to become poor, and really to feel our poverty, that we may be made rich, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that

love him. Can you, my dear friends, hold up your conscience to the light, willing to be tried by the unerring standard of God's word? for it is to the word and the testimony, if they speak not according to that, it is because there is no light in them. Our experience must be subservient to the word, we must not attempt to bring the word to our experience; but it is our privilege to pray, that we may be enabled to take the word of God for our rule and directory, each one for ourselves, both in our walk, conduct, and conversation, and in that situation in life which the Lord has placed us; whether pastors, teachers, rulers, deacons, fathers, masters, husbands, wives, children, or servants; there is every situation, case, and circumstance, recorded for our instruction, edification, comfort and encouragement; and, also, of reproof and correction, if needed, and the way the same is applied and ministered to the varied cases of the elect family. Love, when first drawn forth into exercise upon the person of Christ, is discovered to the soul by earnest longings, breathings, hankerings after the Beloved of his soul, saying: "Oh! that I knew where I might find him, I would come to his seat, fill my mouth with arguments." And this seeking soul often thinks, if he had been upon earth at the time when Christ tabernacled with men, he would have gone to him and told him all his heart. That poor soul cannot think he is so near to us now, because we cannot see him with our eyes; but the word saith: "He is nigh unto such as haply feel after him." And, for the encouragement of every

tried, afflicted, follower of the Lamb, it is written: "His ear is always open to their cry." "That he heard the groanings of the people in Egypt, and in his own time came down to deliver them." My dear friends, we deceive ourselves when we think we should have gone to Christ more readily had we been upon earth at the time he was, not considering that it was a great reproach to acknowledge and confess Christ to be the Messiah in the days of his flesh; whereas he is as nigh to us, though exalted in our nature, at the right hand of the majesty on high, as ever he was to his followers here below; but not to gratify our natural senses. God is a spirit, and will be worshipped, by all true worshippers, in spirit and in truth. Another true evidence of our being made partakers of the love of God, is, we love the brethren; we love those in whom we discover the image of Christ, desire their company, delight in their conversation, are more anxious to hear than to speak, we wish to be hidden ones; yet the servants of God are to us the excellent of the earth. These babes in grace desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby, suck at the breasts of Zion's consolation, in the preached word, and the written word; feeding by faith, at times on Christ the incarnate Word; the ministers being commissioned by our blessed Boaz to let drop handfuls on purpose for these Ruths, who have left the land of their nativity, come out from their father's house, left their carnal relations and connections, forsaken their former pursuits and vanities, turned their back upon the world, and are in