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of stability in the Christian life. A stability of judgment-This refers to the truths of religion. A stability of practice-This refers to the duties of religion. And a stability of hope-This refers to the comforts of religion. Each of these faith is able to produce: but faith alone can produce them. Let us reflect upon all this

And then we shall soon see enough to condemn and bewail in unbelief, not only as it dishonours God, but as it robs the soul, and leaves it stripped, wounded, and half dead; a prey to error, temptation, and grief. Who can imagine the aggregate of the good which it has prevented in our experience, ever since we have known God, or, rather, have been known of him? Oh what characters might we have been!-how firm, how free, how happy, how useful, how ennobled! And what has kept us back from all this honour? "An evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." LORD, INCREASE OUR

FAITH.

AUGUST 16.-MORNING.

"Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money; that take, and give unto them, for me and thee." MATT. xvii. 27.

How well was it foretold that his name should be called Wonderful!

What a surprising combination of attributes was displayed in him! Observe the case before us. Here, while we behold his penury and dependence-so that he did not possess wherewithal to pay the temple

tribute; we perceive his omniscience-so that in Peter's house he could pierce the waters of the sea, and discern a particular fish, and see what was in its body, and announce a piece of money there, and the very name of the coin. Surely the darkness hideth not from him; but the night shineth as the day. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

He who saw the stater in this fish sees what money we are in the possession of—and how we acquired it

and the way in which we are using it. He sees whether we are needlessly hoarding, or wastefully expending it. He sees whether we are making it our hope and confidence, or valuing it only as an instrument of lawful enjoyment, and of pious and benevolent use. He sees the responsibilities of the owner; and knows how he will feel when he shall be called to leave it; and when he will be required to give an account of it at the last day.

He

Here we also behold his power and dominion. is Lord of all. The beasts of the field obey him. At his bidding, not a dog moves his tongue in the departure of the Israelites. At his command, the dumb ass speaks with man's voice, and rebukes the madness of the Prophet. The fowls of the air obey him-At his order the ravens bring Elijah bread and meat in the morning and the evening. The fishes of the sea obey him-At his command a great fish swallows the disobedient, and disembarks the penitent Jonah-and here, a fish, at his requirement, goes and takes up from the bottom of the sea a stater, and then goes and bites at Peter's hook, with this in his

maw! "All things are put under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea."

Could any thing be better adapted to encourage the confidence of the disciples in the kindness and allsufficiency of his providence, when he was sending them forth as sheep among wolves, and without any known supplies to live upon? He commissioned the seventy to go in pairs through the whole country. But he sent them forth without purse, or scrip, or shoes. And they had, it would seem, many uneasy and distracting thoughts at the time. They did not indeed express them; but our Lord was aware of them, and remembered them. And when they came back, he brings them to their own recollection"How came you to think that I, who employed you, should not provide for you?-Why did you doubt my inclination or my ability? When I sent you forth without purse and scrip, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing, Lord."

Are you called to leave behind you those who seem to hang on your care? Hear this Saviour at your dying bed saying "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive: and let thy widows trust in me." "Oh fear the Lord, all ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."

AUGUST 16.-EVENING.

"We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 COR. v. 1.

SOME things in these words are very plain. Others may involve a little difficulty. The Apostle obviously intends the body when he speaks of "the earthly house of this tabernacle:" and nothing can be a juster representation of it. Man is not a machine; or a mere mass of organized matter. He has something more than flesh and blood. There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. What we see is not the agent, but only the instrument; not the inhabitant, but the dwelling. The body is called "an house" for its accommodation. The soul might have had another residence given it, and a very inferior one. Injured as the structure is by sin, it has enough of excellence yet in it to excite admiration, and induce us to say, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Galen, a physician atheistically inclined, after examining the body in the number, the perfection, and the exquisite adaptation of all the parts, was fully convinced of the being of God, and composed a beautiful hymn to his praise. No mechanism will bear a comparison with that of the animal economy. It would be much more reasonable to suppose that a watch made itself, than that the eye, in which there are such marks and proofs of design and contrivance, should be the effect of chance. But it is an "earthly" house-earthly in its composition; earthly in its support; earthly in its destina

tion--"Dust thou art," says the sentence, and "unto dust shalt thou return." It is the case not only with the body of the peasant but of the prince-His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his dust." And so it must be with the relics of the most endeared connexion. The beauty of Sarah which had endangered kings, was soon despoiled of its charms, and after a wish, how natural! to keep even the lovely shrine a little longer-Abraham was compelled to say, "Bury my dead out of my sight."-So the bereaved go, and inscribe over the grave of the once sparkling eye, and the once ruby lip, and the once fascinating tongue

"How loved, how valued once avails thee not,

To whom related, or by whom begot:

A heap of dust alone remains of thee;

'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be."

It is also the earthly house of this "tabernacle." This reminds us of its weakness, frailty, and danger. A tabernacle, though covered, has no foundation: it has no nails fastened in a sure place, but pins and cords instead; it is a movable, temporary, slender abode, soon taken down, and easily destroyed—The Apostle therefore speaks of its being "dissolved."

But what means "a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens?" Some suppose that it is a description of the resurrectionbody. The body, when glorified, may well be thus expressed; but the reference here is to something nearer, something to be found at death, and enjoyed before the revival of the body; as we see in the verses immediately following. It is therefore a representation of the blessed condition into which the soul

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