afflict us, let us bless Him for it. Welcome all inward trouble, all inward proving, if it be the work of His blessed Spirit showing us what we are and what we ought to be. Trust Him, believe in Him, and rest assured that it is well, and that it is by such means He is making you meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' Once entered upon those joys, you will be able to look back upon all the way by which He has led you, and see that the trials and afflictions which He sent you were in truth the sowing of the seed of that glory whose harvest you will then be enjoying. The furrows may be deep and the making of them painful, but the seed of joy is sown therein, and in the bright fields of Emmanuel's land the harvest shall be unclouded light, and life, and joy for ever.

Verse

Let us briefly consider the remaining verses. 20: He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.' There may be a reference here to the paschal lamb, of which not a bone was to be broken. But the expression points to the strength of the believer which is given to him in Christ, and which shall never under any circumstances be removed from him. The believer may have to endure a great variety of emotions and conflicting feelings, until his strength seems wellnigh spent, but it can never be that one of his bones shall be broken, for the strength by which he lives is not his own; so that amid all his weakness and shortcomings and sins, he can rest in the presence and love of that blessed Master 'whose strength is made perfect in weakness.'

Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate,' but the Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants, and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' He comes to us, beloved friends, and shows Himself to us, in the face of Jesus Christ, as our reconciled Father; then the process afterwards is a continued sanctification, a constantly fresh redeeming'

of His people, as they 'receive the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls.' Is it not well to be thus ? To let the world hate us, despise us, cast us out, if the Master be at our side?

'Master! I would no longer be

Loved by the world that hated Thee.'

The troubles may be many and grievous. There may be one and another, and yet another; and there will be added to all the last, viz. death. Death seems to conquer and to gain the victory; but no, the child of God belongs to Him who overcame death for ever. To him it is no longer death, but life. He who is the Resurrection and the Life takes His servant by the hand, and leads Him through the parted river, safe and dry-shod to the other side. He has delivered him out of all his trouble. 'He redeemeth the soul of His servants, and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' Blessed Blessed promise! How desolate we feel sometimes when the voices of the past are sounding in our ears! But really desolate -never, beloved! For all things, are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's' (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23).

The Lord will happiness divine

On contrite hearts bestow;

Then tell me, gracious God, is mine

A contrite heart, or no?

I hear, but seem to hear in vain,
Insensible as steel,

If aught is felt, 'tis only pain
To find I cannot feel.

Sometimes I think myself inclined
To love Thee, if I could;

But often feel another mind;
Averse from all that's good.

My best desires are faint and few,
I fain would strive for more;
But when I cry My strength renew,'
Seem weaker than before.

Thy saints are comforted I know,
And love Thy House of Prayer;
I sometimes go where others go,
But find no comfort there.

O make this heart rejoice or ache,
Decide this doubt for me,
And if it be not broken, break,
And heal it if it be.

COWPER.

PSALM XLII. 1–5.

THE SOUL THIRSTING FOR GOD.

'As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.

'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

'When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.'

THERE is no difficulty, dear friends, in discovering the great resemblance which exists between all the members of the human family, or in understanding the truth of St. Paul's statement in his sermon to the Athenians, that God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth.' There are so many things which are common to the whole race-to man as man-such as pain and sorrow and fear and hope and love, of which it may be said there is a community existing of which every man born into the world has a share. And then, there is the one death which is common to all, as it is appointed unto men once to die.'

At every turn we see signs of this great brotherhood,

which should declare the ground of all our dealings with one another. There is to be borne in mind (a painful reflection to every right-minded person) that this community of brotherhood extends to all the evil qualities of our nature through the fall. We have to behold in all the same evil nature, the same marks of alienation from God, and proneness to be ever departing from Him. The man of the world seizes upon this common tendency to evil to excuse himself with. But to the Christian soul there is no comfort in his hard and bitter struggle against sin, to be told that to sin is the way of all men. No! He admits the fact, but he does so with feelings of shame and sorrow. The outlook is a sad one to the man of God; but he has another of a different kind, and which gives him joy. If there is a common brotherhood of the children of nature and of the fall, there is a brotherhood also of the children of God. They too have their special distinguishing marks, and the sight of such marks which they have in common is helpful and comforting to every one. As believers we have, or ought to have, the marks in common of separation from the world, fellowship with Jesus Christ, love of the brethren, fighting against sin, pressing on towards the one hope, looking unto the same Father, the same Brother, the same home. We can look back upon the ages of the past, and see, in those who were faithful to God, the same features which show themselves in believers to-day, the exact counterpart of our experience in God's great family. May not this fact, viz. the striking correspondence between the members of God's spiritual children in all ages, be permitted to bear witness to the truth of God's revelation to man? Though the circumstances may differ, yet we find a similarity of experience among God's people in different countries and under different outward conditions from our own; certain unmistakeable marks and signs which belong to all those who have been taught to take Jesus

Christ as all their salvation and all their desire. It is very instructive to take such a Scripture as the Psalm before us as illustrative of this principle, and to observe in it the same wants, the same necessities, the same longings, the same hungering and thirsting after God, as are felt now. 'As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,' so the soul of man, when in a right condition, is found to thirst after God-after His presence, His comforts, His joys. " My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God ;' thirsteth for His presence in the soul here, as an earnest of the blessedness of being with Him for ever in glory. Some of us know by experience that the more the servant hath, so much the more does he desire. We know what it is to drink of the River the streams whereof make glad the city of God. And when we have drunk there, we desire to drink again. We can remember blessed seasons, when we have felt God's presence with us in reading His Word, in prayer and praise. At such seasons our souls have drunk in refreshing draughts of the living water. But did we rest satisfied with that? Did we not want to drink again and again? Our souls filled with a Saviour's love, we said, with the woman of Samaria, 'Give me this water, that I thirst not.' This Water of Life, give it me evermore! But thirst we must, again and again, whilst here on earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.' This thirst is the craving of the renewed soul after the things of God: the help of the Spirit; growth in grace, in holiness, and happiness; the joy of His presence, and the joy which His presence imparts. It is thirsting for life; life in its varied forms and aspects. Nothing but life will satisfy the poor dead soul; the soul craves to rise out of the grave of sin unto life, life for God and life with God for ever. No wonder, when the soul is enabled to powers in in any degree, that it longs to exercise

exercise its

them more.