secure than we are at present. We want to feel this, beloved, and to walk in the blessedness of it--not to the gratification, as some would affirm, of our carnal nature-no, no, such will never be the tendency of an overwhelming sense of the goodness and love of God towards us : this will humble us, make sin most hateful, and cause us to seek to live more out of self, sin, and misery, upon the fulness of a precious Christ.

Oh! it is such sweet living, that we would feign never live upon anything short of it. We want so to live that we may daily and hourly view all things as in the hands, and so completely under the gracious management and control, of our covenant God and Father in Christ Jesus, as not to be over-anxious about it, or so pressed down with anxiety; toiling, as we do, beloved, with our load of care, we forgetwe lose sight of, our glorious Burden-bearer. Oh, that the blessed Spirit would lead us more and more into an experimental use of that encouraging exhortation, "Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." What a fulness there is in the expression-he shall sustain thee; not he may or probably will, but shall sustain thee: nor has the Holy Ghost mentioned what burden, intending thereby to welcome us to the Lord with anything and everything that constitutes a burden, whether little or much, small or great. Oh, what a wonderful Lord he must be!--to be listening to the praises of the redeemed in glory-yea, to be himself leading the song, and yet every moment receiving the fresh burdens of his lame, his halt, his blind, his naked, his helpless, his timid ones, here on earth. Some come before him with a long catalogue of trials, perplexities, and sorrows-he graciously listens to them; others can scarcely venture near, but with uplifted hands, a burdened heart, and a sorrowful countenance, groan out, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"-the Lord hears them, and puts their cares upon his shoulders; a third class can only sigh before him—but even this is heard, for it is written, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come up before thee;" a fourth drops a penitential tear, nor is this wasted, for we read that "he puts them into his bottle;" a fifth description seem unable either to talk, or to groan, or sigh, or cry before him, but can only desire after or think of him; and, blessed be God, there is a promise even for them; it runs thus, "The desire of the righteous shall be granted unto him," and again, “A book of remembrance was kept for those that thought upon his name."

And when the Lord has listened to the sighing and crying of his dear family-after their petitions have been presented, a court-day comes a levee is held; ay, such a one as was never given on earth; for, instead of being arrayed in gorgeous apparel, and rolling in splendid equipage, the guests approach, as to outward appearance, in most contemptible attire; they comprise the blind, the lame, the halt of the land, and yet are they unspeakably precious in the eyes of the King of kings, and welcome to his palace. As they shyly and timidly approach, he holds out the golden sceptre to the doubting, fearing, consciencesmitten, sin-burdened, and, with a lovely smile upon his brow, and in his dear, welcome, well-known voice, exclaims, "Come hither, soul;

'Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, why standest thou without?' what is thy petition, and what is thy desire, and it shall be granted unto thee." Their hearts are too full to reply; such love, tenderness, and compassion, melt their frozen hearts, subdue their stubborn wills, and cause them in sweetest humility to drop at his dear feet. Not a word can they utter, except in tears of mingled love and sorrow, which He that readeth the heart alone can comprehend. Could words express their feelings, they would exclaim, "Lord, thou knowest what we want before we ask; we only desire more of thy sweet presence; oftener to come to court, and behold thy lovely countenance; to live near to thee and upon thee; and to be cheered with the sweet assurance that we shall soon dwell with thee for ever." Oh, the Christian's court-days. are glorious days indeed; would that they came a little oftener!

But we must return to the text: we had no idea of pursuing this track; and had promised ourselves this month to say little or nothing, in order to leave more space for our correspondents; but when a portion is given us in an unexpected way, as the present was most peculiarly so, we receive it as from the Lord, and are reluctant to check the stream of light, and love, and liberty, which flows in upon it. Oh, beloved, it is sweet to speak from the heart to the heart, and thus enjoy a personal and very blessed participation in the subject under consideration.

The Lord will perfect. Mark, beloved, it is the Lord's work; not thine nor mine. And since it is his work, he will not be hurried in it, nor dictated to as to how and when he should complete it. What the Lord does, he does well; he does not finish things off in haste, as some reckless workmen will do, but he takes his time about it, and does it thoroughly. Ay, and sometimes our boyish days come again to remembrance, when our father used to make us a toy; we have stood by his side with such anxious watching, thinking he was a long time over this and that part of it, until at length our patience being exhausted, we have said, "Oh, that will do, father !" and when he has given it to us, we have soon found it would not do, it has failed, and our pleasure has been nipped in the very bud. Just so in a spiritual sense; we sometimes (as one of our correspondents sweetly remarked) "pluck the unripe promise;" the taste of which is so sharp or bitter, that it sets our teeth on edge, and chagrined, disappointed, vexed, we are glad enough to cast it aside; and are compelled, however reluctantly, to wait a few more genial showers, and the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, in order that the fruit may be brought forth unto perfection. But it is a sweet mercy, beloved, that our haste does not affect our heavenly Father as it used to do our earthly parent-namely, put him out of temper with us, and cause him to do as they sometimes would, throw it aside, put it out of reach, lock it up, and say, "There now, for your impatience you shall not have it at all." No, our God does not act so, but, "knowing our frame, remembering that we are dust," he proceeds gently onwards; only secretly smiles at our impatience; puts our graces to the test; and in his own good time— which is always the best time-puts forth his hand, saying, "There, now you shall have it." And having waited for it amid a diversity of

feelings, it becomes so much the sweeter and more welcome to us, and in and with the gift we behold so much the more the good and gracious hand of our loving God and Father. And there is another thought in connexion with this, that may be attended with comfort to some poor soul that is troubled with the idea that his recklessness and haste have subverted the promise of the Lord; all perhaps seemed to be going on well, but in one fatal moment he put forth his hand to assist the ark, as Uzza did (1 Chron. xiii. 9, 10), and instantly, as the fruit and effect thereof, death seized upon the promise, and all his hopes were blasted. It is not so, beloved; bear in mind the broken fragments of which we spoke in the opening of the present subject; let it lead thee to confession and prayer, and hereafter thou shalt most clearly see the hand of thy God bringing good out of evil, and making thy haste and folly appear an essential prerequisite in the fulfilment of his purposes. Not to encourage thee to go and do the like again; no, thou art not desirous of having a repetition of the agonizing feelings which attended thy precipitancy; but the Lord has overruled it for good-to make thee nothing in thine own eyes, and to magnify the riches of his grace to show forth the power of his arm-and to display the infini

tude of his wisdom.

The Lord will.-As there is no uncertainty about the final accomplishment of the Lord's purposes concerning his church, so there is nothing doubtful respecting the issue of every step in connexion with each individual member of that church. What the Lord begins, that he will carry on, and will complete; "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.'

Perfect. It shall be a complete, a perfect work. That has been implied and set forth in the previous part of our subject; yes, and so perfect, so complete will it be, that we shall only be able to stand still and admire it, and bless and praise the wonder-working power and skill of our almighty Father. We shall sink into sweetest nothingness before him, when the work, in its finished state, is put into our hands ; and shall be amazed at the wisdom and the grace that have been displayed in the fulfilment even of our most sanguine wishes; for we shall behold a more full development of our very heart's desires, when the Lord's time is come and his work is done, than when our time had arrived. "Your time," said the Saviour, "is always ready; my time is not yet come." "There is a set time to favour Zion ;" and when that time is fully come, nothing can retard the promise; the fruit is ripe, and needs only to be gathered-nay, it scarcely needs even this effort, for the set time shall have arrived for the fulfilment of that declaration, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

That. Now, beloved, if thine is a trial of a providential kind, what is included in this word that is best known to thyself and the Lord. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness." The exercises of the Lord's family are so numerous and complicated, that to enumerate them would occupy more time and space than we can command; nor is it needful that we should specify them, for whatever may be thy source of sorrow, poor trembling soul, though in our description we may hit thy very

case, yet if it went no farther - if it did not lead thee to the Lord with fresh earnestness and encouragement, it would do thee no good; the burden would still be upon thy own shoulders. Hast thou ever considered what trials in their real character are? They are only so many messengers sent from the court of heaven to tell thee and me that the King wants to see us. They are all sent out of love; not for the gratification of a tyrannical, unkindly feeling, merely to display an exhibition of power, such as have prompted many earthly monarchs in bygone ages more particularly, to put their subjects to the rack and torture; but the Lord tries his subjects with the utmost fatherly solicitude, and he never lays upon them more than they are able to bear; his everlasting arms being always underneath them: nor never would he visit us with one trial, if that trial could be dispensed with. He sees it needful, he knows we want a burden and a care, or he would never see us at court. We never should go to the throne; nor should we ever seek an interview with the King, while in this frail, this vain, this fleshly tabernacle, if it were not from dire necessity. The Lord well knows that, beloved; hence he is compelled, as it were, to visit us with affliction. He would spare the rod if he could, and we should here walk in the uninterrupted sunshine of his presence, as we shall do eternally above, if it were for our good. And not only so, but we must not forget that here we are in the wilderness, though in the road, and ever travelling, towards our Father's house; here we are on the battlefield, we must not cowardly lay down our weapons till the victory is achieved; here we are labourers, and though the heat may be oppressive, and the toil hard, it will make home the sweeter by and by. We shall "lie down, and our sleep shall be sweet unto us ;' oh yes, it will be very, very sweet. Nothing will disturb, or annoy, or perplex us then; no misconstruction of motive; no heavy conflicts with the adversary; no pains of body, nor perplexities of mind. Oh, no! we shall go home to our Father's house-yes, our Father's house; "no more strangers or pilgrims, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Oh, what a glorious day-what a rapturous scene will that be! Cheer up, believer, it is hastening on :

"Time's flying swift away,

Soon Jesus will descend;
Believers, safe in Christ,

Your troubles soon will end."

But the trials of some consist in their uncertainty about these blessed realities; and the "that" in our text has respect in their case to trials of a spiritual kind. One sweet evidence of this trial being of the right description, and working well in thy heart, is thine anxiety about it. Thou hast no rest in thyself, nor in the world, nor in the devil; blessed be God, he has "stirred up thy nest," and unsettled thee for everything but himself. Well, our text applies to thee, The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Say, beloved, are there not times when thou canst whisper this language to thyself? thou art afraid to speak it out-to utter it in so many words even in thy own

hearing, lest thou should falsify thyself, but it is more the language of the heart; that is speaking for thee, and it says, "Well, notwithstanding all my fears, discouragements, darkness, and death, in and about me, I cannot give up hope; there is a something at the bottom that cheers me, just keeps me alive-causes me to sigh and cry-to look again unto his holy temple, and to the hills whence cometh my help.

Ah! beloved, it is all well with thee. Cry and sigh on; let thy doubts, thy fears, thy wrestlings, thy contentions, become stronger and stronger, and thou apparently nearer destruction, and more ready than ever to abandon hope, to give all up. All is well; the darker the night, the sooner the day shall break. Jesus - thy Jesus-shall arise upon thy sorrowing soul; he shall scatter thy darkness, dispel thy fears, and say, "I am the Lord that healeth thee." Hasten the time, precious Lord; give thy weary ones-thy famishing ones-thine helpless, thine almost hopeless, ones, a drop of comfort; speak home one soft word to their hearts with divine, irresistible power. Say, "It is I -be not afraid;" "I have loved thee, and given myself for thee;” “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Indulge them, blessed and eternal Spirit, with a holy importunity; suffer them to give thee no rest until thou hast spoken pardon and peace to their troubled consciences, and hast said unto them, "Son-daughter, thy sins be forgiven thee." Oh, honour thine own work; display thine own power; and bring forth those that now sigh and cry to thee to bless and praise thy great and holy name.

Concerneth me.-And what a mercy it is, beloved, that what concerns thee and me concerns the Lord also. Yes, it is a joint concern-a blessed partnership indeed; eternal covenant engagements have so completely united all that concerns us with our most lovely Lord, and all that concerns him with us, that no separation-no dissolution of partnership can take place, nor deed of release be given on either sideno, not to all eternity! Blessed be God, another such a union or partnership as this, never did nor can exist. There is such a oneness of interest, and oneness of heart, as it would be impossible to separate; Jesus and his church, nor one individual member of that church, cannot be dissevered. He cannot part with, or be separated from, the weakest, the meanest, the vilest of his family; nor can they part with him. The union is as fixed, and secure, and unalterable, as God's eternal throne; nor is it more certain that that throne shall stand fast for ever, unshaken by all the artillery of hell, than that the church of God shall be “ perfected," and eternally gathered home to glory. Not a hoof shall be left behind (Exodus, x. 26). Not one shall be missing. The lame, the blind, the halt, shall each and every one be there; so that our most glorious Lord shall say unto his Father in that day, "Here am I, Father, and the children thou hast given me, of which I have lost none, save the son of perdition, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled." Hallelujah! hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and will perfect that which concerneth me.