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process to which He is subjecting the grace He has implanted. will He suffer the furnace to be over-heated, or that His grace, as deposited in your heart, amid all nature's rubbish and defilement, should lose the veriest iota. Be assured, beloved, that the Lord has infinitely more at stake than you have; and, we speak it with reverence, the consequences as to blame, discredit, and dishonour, would fall upon Him, not upon you. You are only a cipher in the matter. To you belongs neither wisdom nor power. It is His wisdom, and His grace, and His strength, in and by which you stand. Hence, as you have no need to fight in this battle-the battle is not yours, but the Lord's;" so the whole of the responsibility, and the entirety of the mighty consequences, devolve upon Him. And, in case of failure or defeat, the enemy would eternally triumph over Him, and not, in a certain sense, over you. The Lord help you to see and rejoice in this, poor anxious and troubled one.

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Again, with regard to the time-so long and so discouragingduring which the poor man had laboured under his malady, you not think that Jesus was an indifferent Spectator, do you? You believe, with respect to that poor man, that He had a wise and loving purpose. You see that He intended by the very prolongation of his affliction, that Jesus intended to prove what His strength (although in an unseen and imperceptible way) could do, without as yet the succour and the full and gracious deliverance He purposed ultimately to bestow. And may it not be-yea, is there not every ground to believe that the Lord has similar purposes in view with respect to your trial or temptation, or bitter heart-rending sorrow? Supported you are-upheld you are-strengthened to a certain extent, at least, you are. So was the poor man for eight-and-thirty years! But for that sustaining and upholding power he must have failed ten thousand times over, and not as many days or hours would have witnessed his affliction, as, by the unperceived yet effectual impartation of the strength of Jesus, did years testify to divine all-sufficiency. The same argument applies to you, poor tried and tempted one. And you may, upon these grounds, well adopt the language of the psalmist, "By this I know that Thou favourest me, because mine enemy hath not triumphed over me." But for this grace of Jesus, he would have done so long, long ago.

Look next, beloved, at the grace and the condescension of Jesus; "He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole ?" How direct and how definite the appeal! No questioning-no upbraiding nor reproach. No charging the man with what He doubtless had it in His power to do, about his impatience and his fretfulness and his rebellion, when he saw one and another and another outstrip him, as time after time he sought to step down into the pool, after the troubling of the waters; oh, no, there was nothing of the kind. Jesus saw that the poor man had been tried enough-tested to the utmost—that his case was now a hopeless and a helpless one, as far as the creature was concerned; and now that he had been brought

down to its worst and lowest aspect, He says so plainly and so

directly, "Wilt thou be made whole ?" gracious! Not "Wilt thou be helped? what?" No, but "Wilt thou be made of a thrice blessed Lord and Master! Words like Himself-great and gracious!

How full, how free, how Wilt thou be aided somewhole?" O blessed words Words worthy of Himself!

"The impotent man" (little apprehending the mercy that awaited him)" answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." Perhaps he had been so well known as a poor cross and crabbed sufferer, that persons shunned him rather than sympathized with him, and therefore they chose rather to help others than to aid him, in stepping down into the pool. Be this as it may, it made no difference in the Great Physician's merciful and gracious intentions.

In passing from the natural to the spiritual, we know it has ever been a matter of surprise to the tried and tempted of the Lord's family, to contemplate others passing by and superseding them, in regard to spiritual healing and divine comfort and consolation. Herein is divine sovereignty displayed in a marked and marvellous manner, and with respect to it, it behoves the Lord's own dear children to hold their peace, and to exclaim, "Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in Thy sight." There is no disputing or denying the fact, that the Holy Ghost is pleased to arrest some sinners, and bring them down into a felt condition of utter guiltiness and helplessness, and then reveals Christ to them, in all the freeness and fulness of His love, grace, and power; giving them at the same time a simplicity and a strength of faith by which they are enabled at once to lay hold of Him, as their Redeemer, Daysman, Head, and Lord. Whilst others, equally convinced of sin, and led to discover quite as fully, if not more so, "an end of all perfection," feeling that "His commandments are exceeding broad," are kept, as the poor man at the pool of Bethesda was, in a waiting, watching, wrestling condition; but at the same time utterly unable to lay hold of, or claim Jesus as theirs. Seeing His suitability, recognizing the virtue of His blood and the perfection of His righteousness, but unable to lay hold, fearing to presume, yet full well knowing that, if saved at all, it must be alone by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, such await not only the troubling of the waters by the Angel of the everlasting covenant, but the actual, the positive, the irresistible laying hold of by, and blessed application of, the Holy Ghost. No man can do the Spirit's work, and the Spirit's work it is to seal home, apply, bring to the heart with power and personal experimental identity, the sovereign efficacy of the blood and the individual clothing in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the persuasions, arguments, or reasonings of men will not-cannot-effect this. It is the Holy Ghost's work, and His work alone. In the leastwise to ascribe this to the creature, is to dishonour the Holy Ghost, who is co-equal in existence and co-essential in His operations with God the Father and God the Son.

The same exercise of divine sovereignty is observable, and as much beyond the comprehension of man, in regard to the fact, that many are not only called, but ripened and taken home, whilst others remain on pilgrimage, and are called to wage a ceaseless and an uninterrupted and laborious warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Many a wearied warrior and many a crippled and limping pilgrim are left on the field, or toiling o'er the desert pathway, whilst the younger and the apparently stronger and more courageous are taken hence, and that without one tithe of the labour or the buffeting or the deadly conflict. Ah, why is this? "Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in Thy sight."

But the poor man at the pool of Bethesda had the blessing at last. It was late, but not too late. He had waited long, but not too long. And, moreover, it was the better for the waiting. But for his long and anxious watching and wishing, the boon would not have been nearly so great nor so valued. Those who came later and left earlier than he, did not nearly so much esteem the cure they had received. It was the long continuance of the malady, it was the many disappointments he had met with, it was the fact, that he had come and gone without avail week after week and month after month and year after year, that at last magnified the grace, and enriched the love, and endeared the person of that great, gracious, and glorious Deliverer, who at length said, and that so unexpectedly but so effectually, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And the self-same mercy shall be yours, ye waiting, watching, wrestling ones. In His own time and in His own sovereign way the same Almighty One will say of the sin-burdened one, "Loose him and let him go," or to His worn and weary pilgrim, "Thou hast compassed this mount long enough go up higher."

St. Luke's, Bedminster, Nov. 9, 1868.

THE EDITOR,

ALONE WITH JESUS.

ALONE with Jesus, oh, how sweet

To leave earth's cares behind;
And at the hallowed mercy-seat
Salvation's joy to find!
Oh, let me ever long to be,
My dearest Lord, alone with Thee.

Alone with Jesus, as I pace

The busy haunts of men;
Sometimes the whispers of His grace
I've heard, and answered then:
Oh, Jesus, let me ever be,

At home, abroad, alone with Thee.

Alone with Jesus, far away

Upon the pebbly strand;

The brightest day, dear Lord, to

me,

Is when I am alone with Thee.
Alone with Jesus, when the night
Hath closed around my bed;
And visions from the world of light
Come floating round my head:
The darkest hour is light to me,
When I'm alone, dear Lord, with
Thee.

Alone with Jesus let me close

This life's tempestuous war:
How blest in Jesus to repose,
And wake on Canaan's shore;

When wide the beams of opening day To dwell throughout eternity,

Are flung o'er sea and land:

Scarborough.

But not alone, dear Lord, with Thee.
W. S. ROBINSON.

Tayside Notes.

A SUFFICIENCY IN CHRIST.

"My people shall be satisfied."-JER. xxxi. 14.

BELOVED, we are compelled always to preface our "Notes" with prayer, because we feel that to feed in any little measure the flock of God is no light matter. Throughout this day our cry has been, "Now, dear Lord, unfold some fresh truth to us. It is for Thine own we desire it: disappoint us not." This evening's post brought us a letter from an aged and afflicted pilgrim, and the following expressions therein touched the right chord in our hearts: "I am getting very feeble and infirm as to my body, but daily find a sufficiency in Christ' to refresh my weary soul, and bear me up amidst the sinkings of heart and flesh. Bless the Lord for all His faithful loving care to such a worm.' Ah, reader! there is a reality in a religion that will support when infirmities creep on and eternity draws near. But it was those words, "a sufficiency in Christ," that seemed to drop both unction and power on the heart as we folded up the letter, and said," That will do." We know that, to the worldling, such a course of things would be an absurdity; but we care not for the world's view of matters. It is for the "my people" we write. Lord, melt the heart and guide the pen, and bring honour to Thine own great name. Now

1st. The world cannot give satisfaction, not even to those who live only for it; for instance, take wealth. Who is there that says, "I have enough and am satisfied?" Or carnal pleasure. Does it bring into a state of quietude? Far from it; those who thirst for it are kept in a feverish state of anxiety, and are never satisfied. Or, again, fame. Can that bring peace? We know one who has arrived at the object of his ambition, namely, to become "a Member of Parliament," who assured us he was a happier man by far when he moved in a much more humble and lowly sphere. And then it is when sickness comes, that the hollow pretensions of the world are discovered, as the Scriptures say, concerning the wicked, "Then, in the fulness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits." We have seen the ungodly man in such straits; as far as the comforts, and even luxuries, of life are concerned, he had but to request and have: but, with disease of body and eternity in view, of what avail were they all then? The man was in terrible straits, "Oh, I'm as good as my neighbour, I owe no man anything." But conscience told him a different tale, leaving him to plunge against God's will like a bull in a net. But then, if we pass from the world to soul-concerns, what can bring peace into the soul? The Pope of Rome says, Come into the embrace of the Holy Catholic Church; therein is peace. Note the words of his Apostolic letter addressed to all Protestants: "Incited by charity I cannot refrain from exhorting Christians being not Catholic to examine it that they follow the path of salvation traced by Christ," and adds that the sects separated from Roman Catholicism, being deprived of the supreme authority established by God, have always changed their doctrines, while the Church instituted by God possesses the truth, which is not liable to change. The Pope urges Protestants to avail themselves of the Council to re-enter the church to which their forefathers belonged, and ends by saying, that he wishes that return most ardently, and prays God to that effect day and night. So the Pope of Rome would have us believe that "the path of sal

vation traced by Christ" consists of the adoration of saints, the worshipping of images, a belief in transubstantiation, and the rest of its false dogmas, and, after all this, a passing through purgatory. Away with such a salvation! What a mercy, reader, that you and I have not so learned Christ. And does all this mummery bring peace and satisfaction? Nay, far otherwise; once enthralled, their sisters and nuns profess a kind of peace, but, if the heart could tell out the truth, in many a case it but covers an aching void, and an inward misery of life.

""Tis vain to seek for creature aid,

To calm the troubled mind;

But, when on Christ our sins are laid,
What sacred rest we find.

And this brings us to note that—

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There is a sufficiency in Christ for salvation, and in no other.-"It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment." We often make appointments, but sickness, and even death, sometimes intervenes, and we are unable to keep them; but here is one made by God Himself, and therefore it will be most certainly carried out. There is no getting away from it; "It is appointed unto men once to die." Death stalks into the palace, as well as into the cottage, cuts down a prince of the realm as well as a pauper in the workhouse. "And after death the judgment. annihilation as some would have us believe, but judgment. (says John, in his revelation of things that should come to pass) white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Now if this be so, that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment,"-and not one of us can get out of it, but will have to face it-what is to be done? We reply, Be prepared! But how? Here we must go back to the doctrine of the fall, because, if wrong here, we are wrong everywhere. Adam fell; by his disobedience all his posterity were ruined. "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men; for that all have sinned." There can be no mistake here. And is there no remedy? Oh, yes: "If through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." Has it abounded unto me? "God gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Do you believe in Him? are you trusting in His finished work for the salvation of your soul? "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." So that faith is not the procuring cause of regeneration, but the fruit and effect of the new birth. And what is the culminating point of this life, of which faith is an evidence? "Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Then if he is "born again," he shall "enter into the kingdom of heaven." But will he not stand a chance of being lost by the way? There is no chance in the matter; all is certainty. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and

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