This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. 1 JOHN iii. 23. For God hath sent his Son into the world, that we might live through him. Chap. iv. 9.

THE Father breaks forth, as it were, through the whole Scripture in high praises of his Son; he calls out from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." Matt. xvii. 5. Nothing, therefore, can be more agreeable to him than to receive this his Son, and to believe his report (John xvi. 27), and on doing this we shall have life; but by omitting it, we we look upon him as a liar. Unbelief, therefore, which refuses to accept of this great gift, is, no doubt, the greatest of all sins. O LORD, teach me this, and grant me faith.

"Why art thou so backward, O my poor soul, to believe, like the rest of GOD's children, in CHRIST? Hast thou not as good a right to do it as they have? Who can dispute with thee this privilege? It is the express will of the Father; nay, he even commands thee to do it. Has he not given his only Son, by an act of inconceivable love, to die for thee, to the very end that thou shouldst live? O, what a pleasing thing will it be to him, to put thy whole trust upon this his well-beloved Son! This would be the joy of his heart more than anything else: therefore delay no longer to receive what his love has offered thee, but firmly believe that the Father loves thee as well as the Son."

Author of faith, to thee I lift
My weary, longing eyes;
O let me now receive that gift—
My soul without it dies!

D

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We love him, because he first loved us. 1 JOHN iv. 10, 19. He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. JOHN xiv. 21, 23.

WHAT a glorious promise! what manner of love is this! LORD, I would not exchange my cross and sufferings, much less thy love, for the love and honours of the world. Only make it more known to me how great thy love is, and how much thou hast forgiven me, that I may love thee much again, and be thereby still better purged from the inordinate love of temporal things. It is my earnest desire that the gates of my heart should be opened to none but thee, that thou alone mayest dwell in me. Shed thy love abroad in my heart, quicken and renew all the faculities of my mind and body, and work everything in and for me, that thy love may be my life, and the keeping of thy law my joy.

Love divine, all love excelling;

Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix us in the humble dwelling,

All thy faithful mercies crown.

O! for this love, let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Saviour's praises speak!

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast;

Let us all in thee inherit,

Let us find thy promised rest.

Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 2 COR. v. 9.

THIS indeed is the true disposition of a soul
espoused to CHRIST. She has but one care,
which is to please him in all things. And this
desire to do his will is, as it were, the ring and
seal of her Bridegroom; which she may look
upon even in the absence of all spiritual joy, as
a token for good, that she is his spouse. Ought
not then this day, O my soul, to be a new wed-
ding-day with CHRIST? He is desirous that thou
shouldst be betrothed unto him, even now, and
waits only for thy consent. Hearken, O daugh-
ter! consider, and incline thine ear; be no longer
married to the world. Forget thine own people
and thy father's house, and take him alone for
thy husband, so shall the King greatly desire thy
beauty. Wilt thou give the refusal to this glo-
rious and loving SAVIOUR? I hope not. Give it
rather to the world, and resolutely say, I have
done with thee, O poor world! I break the bonds

of
my former love; my eyes and feet shall hence-
forth only be directed to the blessed and eternal
city of the new Jerusalem, where my heavenly
Bridegroom resides. And O what need I have
to be duly prepared, dressed, and beautified
against his coming, and the time of his taking me
home to himself! LORD JESUS, keep me longing
for thine appearance, for the happy day when I
shall go with thee to glory.

If CHRIST is ours, we may despise
All rage, though hell against us rise:
His love experienced will impart
Immortal transport to thy heart!

Abide in me. JOHN XV. 4. Lord, to whom shall we go?-thou hast the words of eternal life. JOHN vi. 68. It is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God. PSALM lxxiii. 28.

То

O abide in CHRIST, who is our righteousness and strength, and not to be moved from him, is the very life and power of Christianity; we do this when our thoughts are going out after him, our hearts cleaving to him, and our minds stayed upon him. Now, to know CHRIST, and thus to abide in him, as our righteousness, brings peace and joy; which joy in the LORD is certainly followed with strength to overcome sin and the world, which believers renounce the more readily, as they have found something better in CHRIST. May the LORD give me grace likewise immoveably to abide in him! May he strengthen me with might in the inner man, even with the might of the Holy Spirit, that I may not only abide in CHRIST while here, but may abide with him for evermore in the New Jerusalem which is above.

CHRIST is my light, my life, my care,
My blessed hope, my heav'nly prize;
Dearer than all my passions are,

My limbs, my bowels, or my eyes!

The strings that twine about my heart,
Tortures and racks may tear them off;
But they can never, never part

With their dear hold of CHRIST my love.

My GOD, and can a humble child,

That loves thee with a flame so high,

Be ever from thy face exiled,

Without the pity of thine eye?

Impossible! for thine own hands

Have tied my heart so fast to thee,
And in thy book thy promise stands,
That where thou art thy friends must be.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. GAL. iii. 13, 14.

THE spirit of sanctification is the gift of CHRIST.

"Elect according to the foreknowledge of GOD the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of CHRIST." 1 Pet. i. 2. Consequently, there is a great difference between moral actions done by our own strength, and true sanctification of the spirit. The latter cannot take place before the soul truly receives CHRIST, and abides in him as its only propitiation, righteousness, and peace; for he being first made to us of GOD our righteousness, will then be made our sanctification likewise (1 Cor. i. 35), and the kingdom, work, and image of GOD will go on best when we trust least to our own strength. Sanctification is now become a more easy task, since CHRIST lives and works in us, and we in a child-like temper live henceforth to him who died for us. Let me always be as a little child, as a new-born babe, with a heart hungry for the sweet milk of the word of GOD, without malice, without guile, without hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2.

The law commands and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;

But 'tis the gospel must reveal

Where lies the strength to do his will.

The law discovers guilt and sin,

And shows how vile our hearts have been,

Only the gospel can express

Forgiving love and cleansing grace.

c