giving to the Father of spirits for her release from this body of sin and death, and for the grace and mercy which he had bestowed on his servant then just departed in his true faith and fear. "This, my brethren, is indeed the duty of us all, as members of that one body whereof Christ Jesus in heaven is the glorious head. If we speak of the excellencies of the faithful, it is with a view not to exalt them, but to glorify God in them, and to magnify him for that great grace which he bestows upon his saints. Blessed, then, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed this and all other his servants with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ, according as he hath chosen them in him, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated them unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made them accepted in the Beloved, in whom they have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of their sins; according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards them in all wisdom and prudence. And may the same God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto us all the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; that, the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints; and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to them that believe, according to the working of his mighty power.' "Thus have I given you a faithful delineation of the character of the deceased. I think it may safely be affirmed to be that of an exalted Christian. The foundation of her religion was, as you have heard, placed upon the rock Christ, and laid deep in humility. She was an eminent pattern of faith, hope, and joy in the Holy Ghost; of industry, fidelity, disinterestedness, devotion, thankfulness, patience, meekness, and charity. Blemishes she certainly had, because she was a partaker of our common, human, fallen nature; but they were the spots of God's children. For my own part, I can truly assert, that I know not what they were. Yet I doubt not but she felt inward corruptions, which she knew, notwithstanding the uprightness and unblameableness of her conduct in the sight of men, would bring her in guilty before that just and holy God who searcheth the reins and trieth the heart. These, doubtless, she daily deplored before him, and sought to have washed out in the precious blood of her Redeemer. Whilst from a principle of love and duty she studiously and uniformly did all those good works which God had prepared for her to walk in, she utterly renounced her own righteousness as a mean of justification. That she acknowledged to be at the best but filthy rags; and therefore she trusted to the merits of Jesus Christ alone for acceptance. His righteousness she gloried in, and that only. Therewith she looked to be clothed at the great day of his appearing, and to be presented in that robe perfect and spotless before the throne of God. 66 My brethren, the circumstances I have adduced are undeniable evidences of the power of religion in the soul. They are facts which incontestably prove the truth of the divine promises. They show, that the faithful servants of God do not follow cunningly devised fables when they speak of his goodness, mercy, and love to their souls, but are witnesses, experimental witnesses, of their reality and influence. May we all be enabled to produce equally clear and satisfactory evidences of our conversion to God! May we seek to be led by the same Spirit, and follow our departed friend as she followed Christ! It is of the utmost importance to us all to examine ourselves impartially, and consider seriously, whether we possess this renewed state of heart and mind, whether we are really the children of God, and consequently can entertain a well-grounded hope of entering into eternal rest. Are there any among us whose consciences accuse them of alienation from God, of love to sin, of slavery to Satan, of undue conformity to the world; know that God is greater than your heart, and knoweth all things. If you continue in this state, you must be wretched here and miserable for ever. Without a meetness for heaven, you can have no share in the inheritance of the saints in light. The merits of Christ himself, infinite as they are and all-sufficient for the salvation of the whole world, yet cannot be applied to you if you remain impenitent. Without holiness no one shall see the Lord;' therefore, unless you are sanctified by his Spirit you can derive no benefit from his atonement. Awake, then, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light! Seek a conformity to the divine image, that you may be qualified to enjoy the divine presence. Jesus saves his people from their sins. That salvation is begun here by grace and perfected hereafter in glory. Your present redemption from the love and power of sin is the only sure token you can possess of your preservation from the future punishment of it. Close instantly with the gracious offers made to you in the Gospel. Fly to the Saviour of sinners without delay for pardon, grace, and strength. Lose not a moment in securing peace and reconciliation with God through the blood of his JULY 1823. cross. You know not what a day may bring forth. It may be the last opportunity that is afforded you. Behold, now is the appointed time! Behold, now is the day of salvation.' To-day, therefore, hear his voice inviting, persuading, entreating you to turn to him and be saved. 'O stop not your ears and harden not your hearts, lest he swear in his wrath that you shall never enter into his rest.' "As for you, my friends, in whom the Spirit beareth witness with your spirit, that you are the children of God, you not only enjoy the highest honour and happiness in this world, in the communion and love of the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ, but you have also in yourselves an earnest of unutterable and eternal felicity in the world to come. The prospect of that glorious rest reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, will bear you up under all the labours and sorrows, the trials and temptations to which you may be exposed in your passage through this wilderness to the heavenly Canaan. You have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope set before you, which hope is as an anchor of the soul sure and steadfast, and entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for you entered, even Jesus Christ. Have no confidence in yourselves, but place all your dependence upon God. Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Lead a life of closer communion with him, and unreserved obedience to him. Be ready to do and suffer his will in all things. Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ; avoid every appearance of evil, and study to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances. Be not weary in well-doing, but be steadfast and L L unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Be instant and fervent in prayer, and He who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Then sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and sin and death shall be no more; you shall rest in his eternal kingdom, and be unceasingly employed in ascribing salvation to Him who sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb' for ever and ever." THE CHRISTIAN UNDER CONFLICT. Could I but speed with wings of morning light, Thus reels the bark oppress'd with wind and wave, Each rending plank sends forth the sick'ning groan, Still howls the storm where rocks beneath are spread, Blest souls! escap'd from life's tempestuous main, Come, gracious Spirit, source of joys divine, 66 O lead me to thyself! be thine my will, Thus mourn'd yon pilgrim, when the low'ring sky And smiles in love e'en while his children groan, In mercy sent his Spirit from above, With tender accents whisp'ring "God is love!" As breaks the gloom when midnight speeds away, And morn advances on the wings of day; As faith drew near, and rais'd his drooping head; RHYMER. LETTERS ADDRESSED TO A YOUNGER BROTHER DURING HIS APPRENTICESHIP. MY DEAR G. LETTER V. I HOPE that mode of private prayer which you have adopted has been the result of your own convictions rather than of my suggestion, and that you experience the benefit I had anticipated. In whatever way you address your heavenly Father, may it be always under a deep sense of his awful majesty and immediate presence, without dissimulation or reserve on the one hand, and on the other, without pharisaical verboseness or irreverent familiarity. As you apprehend your want of leisure to answer my letter will continue for some time, and it will therefore be out of my power to adapt my communications to your existing circumstances, I shall in the interim, as opportunities may offer, substitute a few plain and spontaneous remarks on some interesting portion of Scripture, leaving you to amplify them by your own meditations. 1 John, iv. 16. "God is love." If we did not know by sad experience, we should think it impossible that a believer could be so little influenced by the multitude of endearing and encouraging declarations which are made in the Scriptures of truth. On the important article of the pardon of sin, he is assured that his sins are forgiven him for Christ's sake. In reference to the relation he stands in to God, he is told that he is a child of God, a member of his household or family. And if he inquires what God is to him, pre-eminently and emphatically, under the Gospel dispensation, the Apostle declares "God is love." None, indeed, but the believer in Christ can know him under this endearing character. To the wicked he is" a consuming fire" and a God of terror; and such he was once to us; but I trust we have been blest with the surest, the most stupendous, and most endearing pledge of his loveredemption and reconciliation to him by the blood of Christ; and that in consequence the love of God has been "shed abroad in our hearts." If, then, our God is love, how can we be disinclined to hold frequent communion with him? how can we fear to ask largely of him at the throne of grace? how can we ever be mistrustful of his goodness? and why do we ever fail to return him love for love, and daily to present ourselves to him "a living sacrifice," which is so "reasonable," so delightful a "service?" It is true that we occasionally perceive him hiding his face from us, and exerercising us with the rod of correction. But this discipline is for the healing, not the destruction, of our souls; for," whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth;" and though he hides his face for a little moment, yet with everlasting kindness he regards his people. O then let us ever bear in mind his unchangeable love. Let us bless him in health and prosperity, and trust him in affliction and adversity; and remember, that however our circumstances may vary, his eternal loving-kindness orders them all, and that if he has once loved us he will love us to the end. These, my dear G. are poor faint effusions on such a subject; but God can bless them to you. 0 may He who is love itself dwell in you, and teach you experimentally, in spirit if not merely in the letter, "what is its height, and depth, and breadth, and length," for Christ's sake. Amen. N. G. ESSAYS ON THE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. ESSAY VIII. THE INJUSTICE, VIOLENCE, AND Iniquity of our LORD'S CONDEMNATION AND DEATH. Isaiah, liii. 8.—He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. THIS verse and the preceding cannot but remind us of that simple and affecting narrative recorded in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. He had been to Jerusalem to worship, and as he returned his Bible was his companion. He read it as he sat in his chariot, and in this way sought to keep alive in his heart those serious impressions which the grace of God had made. Not many of his rank, it is to be feared, make the sacred Scriptures the companion of their journeys; but there are some whom divine grace has taught to love and to reverence the word of God, and this pious nobleman was one of the number. God, who never leaves the humble and serious inquirer after divine truth, had provided for him a suitable teacher. Philip, who but a short time before had preached Christ in the city of Samaria with great success, was directed to meet this pious man, and as soon as he saw him, the Spirit ordered him to go near and converse with him. He asked him in the first place, whether he understood what he was reading. "He said, How can I, except some man should guide me? and he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the sacred Scriptures which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who should declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom 'speaketh the Prophet this? of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Acts, ix. 31-35. "In "He was taken from prison and from judgment:" i. e. He was arraigned and condemned in a most violent, arbitrary, and illegal manner, contrary to all law and justice. He was not cast into prison and afterwards brought to a fair trial, but proceeded against, not only unjustly but in the most summary manner. He was hurried away as soon as his enemies had taken him, allowed no time for his defence, brought forth to answer the accusations of false witnesses, urged to say something that might give a colour to the sentence of condemnation which his enemies were determined to pass upon him, and then accused before Pilate, and his immediate execution demanded with great clamour and violence. his humiliation his judgment was taken away."-" He was taken off by the magistracy, and by a judicial trial.' But the magistracy were then most corrupt and wicked, and they acted not as upright and impartial judges, but as the determined and implacable enemies of the blessed Jesus. It is one of the blessings of that form of government under which we live, and it is a blessing which we ought to be thankful for, that such violent proceedings are not suffered in our courts of justice. No man's life can be taken from him by a judicial sentence contrary to law, nor can any accused person say that his judgment is taken away. But the Lord Jesus was unjustly and illegally condemned, and in his trial (if trial it can be called) bribery, |