OMNIPRESENCE.

"If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Behold Thou art there !"-PSALM CXXXIX. 9, 8.

COULD my glad soul ascending spring,
On the bright morn's resplendent wing,
And glancing through eternal space
Pursue an endless boundless race;
Still moving through the trackless air
My soul would find Thy Presence there!

Or if endowed with fearful might,
My soul could pierce eternal night,
And roam amidst these awful shades
Where every hopeful vision fades ;
E'en in those realms of dark despair,
My soul would find Thy Presence there!

From Thy Almighty searching eye
The soul in vain may seek to fly,
For buried in some ocean-cave
Deep hid beneath the foaming wave,
On mountain-top where raging storm
May chase away each human form,
Or in the trackless desert scene
Where mortal foot hath never been,
Away from every human care

I still should find Thy Presence there?

In secret places of the night
Where all is veiled from mortal sight,
Where man may vainly hope to feel,
That none his secrets can reveal;
Vain is that hope that none can share
Knowledge of crime, since Thou art there!

This awful thought for ever shrined
In every mortal heart and mind,
The awful thought, Thou'rt with me now
To mark the clear or guilty brow;
This awful Presence shrined within
May make the trembler fly from sin,
And mingle with each thought and care
Remembrance that Thou still art there!

And whilst these thoughts the righteous fill
With joy that Thou art with them still,
Whilst such would never seek to fly
From Thy all-searching watchful eye :
Whilst such can never know Despair,
Whate'er their lot, since Thou art there,
Thy Gracious Presence is but fraught
With terror to each sinning thought,
For all this fearful knowledge share,
In Death and Judgment Thou'lt be there!
PRISCILLA.

THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION.

(From the Bishop of Chester's recent tract.)

IT may seem a nice distinction, to allow that a man is not saved without good works, and yet to deny that his works contribute to his justification. But though a nice distinction, it is perfectly intelligible and reasonable. Above all, it is scriptural. It is that conclusion from the whole volume of antecedent revelation which St. Paul was empowered to indite for the instruction and guidance of that world for which Christ died. Whereas, to follow what is virtually the Romish system, and unite together two things so clearly distinguished in the Christian scheme, as man's JUSTIFICATION and his SANCTIFICATION, is, in effect, to devise a scheme of salvation for ourselves. It confounds the new state in which we are placed, with the new nature which we are to receive. It removes the distinction between what is, and what is not, inherent in us; between what Christ has done, and what he enables us to do. Man's condition, without the satisfaction of Christ, may be illustrated by that of Peter, when, being cast into prison by Herod, he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; Acts xii. 5, &c., and the keepers before the door kept the prison. An angel came, raised him up, released him from his fetters, opened the prison-doors, and set him

free. In all this Peter had no more part, than man has in his justification. It is "the Lord our righteousness," who "delivers us from the wrath to come.' But man being thus delivered, is "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise," and walks before God in righteousness and holiness; just as Peter gave proof of the liberty which he had attained, when he hastened to the house of Mary the mother of John, and joined the assembly of the disciples.

This may serve as an illustration of the manner in which the believer is justified and sanctified. He begins by perceiving himself lost, repenting truly of his past sins, and betaking himself to Christ for deliverance. He proceeds to live, as his Deliverer instructs him to live, and enables him to live, and declares that he must live, if he is to receive the promised inheritance. But his Instructor and Strengthener is still his Deliverer; even if his works were perfect, He would still be his Deliverer: because without Him he would have been lying in darkness; but his works are not perfect, and need his constant thankfulness that they are not his trust; that his ground of confidence is in Him who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. But he has no satisfactory evidence that he is entitled thus to depend upon his Lord and Saviour, unless his conscience bears testimony that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, he is living "righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world," and striving to "be perfect, even as his Father who is in heaven is perfect."

EXPOSITORY REMARKS ON GENESIS.

No. V.

WE have gone at considerable length into that part of our text which speaks of the multiplying of the woman's sorrows in connection with the multiplying of her conception; but it still remains for us to dwell for a moment upon the next clause of our text, "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children." And here we would first challenge the boasted wisdom of the infidel philosopher, and ask him to give us, in lieu of the cause assigned by Moses for the pains of child-bearing, some conjecture which may at least appear to himself, if not to us, plausible, as to the reason which could possibly induce the Creator to inflict so much cruel suffering upon one half of the human race, and that half the weaker portion of the two. But the infidel philosopher can give us nothing approaching to a reply, nor has he as yet devised any thing like an apparent natural cause for a state of things so monstrous as the existing state. It is true that he will sometimes feign, that there is probably some necessary connection between the mother's anguish before she gives birth to her child, and the subsequent love she feels for it; and that but for this previous suffering, her attachment to her offspring would not be so great as it now is, because we always value our blessings in proportion to the labour FEBRUARY, 1844.