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have other lovers, and after them I will go." Monstrous ingratitude! a child of special grace, and yet fly from thy most loving Father! a spouse of the most affectionate Bridegroom, and yet be unchaste to thy rightful Husband! Shocking carriage! Yet, hear and wonder, hear and love, love and be ashamed, be ashamed and return. For, marvellous grace! though thou hast broken thy marriage contract, and forfeited the privileges of children, yet the relation continues, "I am married to you," (children still, notwithstanding all their unkind carriage,) "saith the Lord." Amazing love! instead of, "I will pursue with vengeance, overtake with destruction," it is, "I entreat with love, expostulate with kindness, invite with affection." Who, Oh, who against such love, such kindness, such affection, is proof? Lord, what a wretch is a backslider from thee! and yet, thou lovest such freely, and wilt heal them graciously! Hos. xiv. 4.

Who are thy present lovers? Remember, the rivals of thy Lord are thy greatest foes, and seek thy present misery and eternal destruction. Dost thou "live after the flesh?" have Satan's wiles and the snares of the world, prevailed over thee? The world, the flesh, and the devil! poor soul! canst thou be happy in their friendship and embraces? Oh, no! thou art got into bad, yea the worst company. What leanness of soul is brought upon thee! Thy love to Jesus is grown cold, thy faith in him weak, zeal for him and his truth is abated, the way of sin and folly pleaseth; sweet intercourse in private prayer, communion with thy God in public ordinances is gone, thou neglectest duty, art grown shy of thy Father and his children. But still, thy Father calls, thy husband woos thee, again and again, to turn, to return. Love, the bond of relation, never alters on God's part, notwithstanding base backsliding and monstrous ingratitude on thine. Special grace will make love-calls effectual. Such shall one day call to mind "the love of their espousals;" be ashamed for all they have done, and say, "I will go and

return unto my first Husband, for then it was better with me than now," Hos. ii. 7.

FEB. 6.-Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?— Rom. iv. 9.

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ," Col. ii. 8. Why this caution from the voice of inspiration? Our daily danger makes it expedient, "lest any man beguile you of your reward. Beware of men. Call no man Rabbi;" lest any man judge against your privileges, impair your comforts, or distress your mind.

Here is every blessing to make poor sinners happy. Righteousness imputed without works; iniquities forgiven without merit, and sins covered without deserts; sin not imputed. This trinity of blessings flows from the unity of free grace. Such blessedness cometh, free as the air, unmerited as the light, comforting as the sun, possessed by the unworthy, enjoyed by the illdeserving, sure to all the redeemed, the inestimably rich privileges of every believer in Jesus. O precious faith in a precious Saviour!

Here, the wise God and vain man differ in judgment. Legal hearts are ever thinking of obtaining righteousness by works, and pardon upon conditions: but God imputes righteousness without works, even the best robe. None but untoward children find fault with their father's gifts. None but proud children object to their father's clothing. For thy righteousness even if perfect, O soul, is at best but the righteousness of a creature; but Jesus' righteousness is the righteousness of the God-man, alike infinite in value with his precious blood, by which our sins are atoned. They are not imputed to us, because laid upon Jesus.

God pardons them, in justice to him. Christ hath performed every condition for us. Faith takes its views and forms its judgments from revealed truths. So it evidences its divine original. Thus it gives all glory to God; while the sense of pardon, and the knowledge of justification, are applied to the soul by the Spirit, who comforts the soul in belief of the truth. And thus, a living, vital union is preserved, between Jesus and his members, through faith. From a joyful sense of pardon, and the Lord's not imputing sin, love is increased, holiness incited, the sinner humbled, Jesus exalted, free grace gloried in, hope encouraged, slavish fears ejected, and the heavenly inheritance longed for, as a free gift by Jesus. Thus all is of God, all is of grace, all cometh freely. Even eternal life is the free gift of God, by Jesus Christ who saith, "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," Luke xii. 32.

FEB. 7.-God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.-2 Cor. iv. 6.

This is a glorious confession of faith, worthy to be written in letters of gold, set with the most precious jewels, and ever to be worn, as the believer's ornament and glory. For here is the rich display of sovereign grace and the glory of almighty power, in producing light in the heart of sinners, who are, by nature, not only in the dark, but even darkness itself. The knowledge of Jesus is commanded by the same Omnipotent Agent, who called forth light in the beginning, upon this dark, terraqueous globe. Light gladdens the whole creation of nature: and this spiritual light causeth joy in the whole soul; for it gives the knowledge of God's glory. In what respect? that God is glorious in majesty? Oh, this strikes us with horror! Glorious in power? That

fills us with terror. Glorious in holiness? This causes black despair. So every other attribute and perfection of Jehovah must sink sinners into dread, astonishment, and death.

But here is our relief, it is the knowledge of the glory of God, in the person of the anointed Saviour. In him, God's glorious favour, eternal love, everlasting council of peace, covenant of grace, promises of mercy, scheme of salvation, shine with the most resplendent lustre. Hence pardon, love, peace, joy, holiness, hope, security, heaven in possession, glory in reversion; all, all centre in the person of Jesus. Thus we behold the glory of God--God in Christ! This is the only comfortable knowledge, the only reviving experience, of the christian heart. And here we see how inseparably connected God's glory and his people's comforts are. Each leads to the other, and both tend to lay sinners low in humility, and sink them to nothing before a sovereign, gracious Lord. Could a dark chaos contribute anything to the production of light? Canst thou, O worm of the earth, exert any power, to cause that glorious luminary, the sun, to send forth its reviving beams of light? No; the first is by the command of the Sovereign Agent; the latter acts by the laws of its wise Creator. So as to spiritual light, saving knowledge, it is given to those who sought it not; it is made manifest to those who asked not after it. What then becomes of terms and conditions of salvation? O thou once spiritually blind and dead soul, if God hath commanded the light and knowledge of Jesus in thine heart, all boasting is excluded; all glorying in self is at an end. Surely thou wilt say, Thine is the power; to thee, to thee alone, Jehovah, be all the glory!

FEB. 8.-Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by him

self purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.--Heb. i. 3.

What St. Paul says of the resurrection of Jesus, 1 Cor. xv., may, with equal truth, be applied to his divinity. If Jesus be not truly and essentially the selfexisting God, "All preaching is vain; all faith is vain;" all the saints of God must perish in their sins.

But we

have not so learned Christ, if so be we have heard him, and know the truth as it is in him. His eternal power and Godhead angels adore, devils tremble at, saints rejoice in, and only poor, blinded, proud sinners dare cavil against and deny.

That Jesus is both Lord and God, lies at the foundation of our faith. That he upholds all things by the word of his power, is the joy of our hearts. That, as man, he hath purged our sins, causes all our hope and comfort. That he is entered into heaven for us, and there pleads our cause, this is the glory of our souls. For our hope entereth into that within the veil. There Jesus, our fore-runner, is for us entered. On this rock Christ's church is built, and neither the powers of earth and sin, nor the gates of hell shall prevail against it. When the Spirit brings the soul up to Nebo, the mount of prospect and prophecy, it has glorious views of the inheritance, it speaks of it, it fructifies, the graces of faith, hope, love, peace, and joy, abound in the heart. But, alas! all is barren as a wilderness, unfruitful as a desert, while sin, in its guilt and punishment, is not known and believed to have been purged by the blood of Jesus. This is the only physic for sin-sick souls, the most reviving cordial for drooping spirits. That same blood, which was allsufficient to purge away sin in the court of heaven, is also all-sufficient to cleanse the guilt of it from the conscience., Sweet consolation for the members of Jesus! Their living Head, in human form, is at the right hand of the Majesty in glory; the blessed object to whom we are ever to look, through whom every

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