Him as such. It was the same Jesus which was meek and lowly in heart, which took up the little children and blessed them, and which washed the disciples' feet, that thus came from this abode of sorrow, "travelling in the greatness of His strength, mighty to If He is still such, what have you to fear? save. Behold, from Edom's land of woe, Tempted, afflicted, mourning, weak, and guilty sinner, if this Jesus does not live for you, who is it for? If not you, who does He live to save and bless! W. B. A WORD FOR THE GRACELESS. IF a lesser sin many times press so heavy when the conscience is enlightened, how will thy poor soul tremble under the terrible and intolerable weight of all thy sins together! When all thy lies, all thy oaths, all thy filthy speeches and railings, all thy mad passions and impure thoughts, all thy good-fellow meetings, alehouse hauntings, and scoffings of God's people; all the wrongs thou hast done, all the goods thou hast got ill, all the time thou hast misspent; thy profanation of the Sabbath, thy mocking Christ at every Sacrament, thy non-proficiency at every sermon, thy ignorance, thy unbelief, thy worldliness, thy covetousness, thy pride, thy malice, thy lust, thy lukewarmness, impatience, discontentment, vain-glory, self-love, the innumerable swarms of vain, idle, wandering, and wicked imaginations; in a word, all the pollutions, distempers, and estrangedness from God in thine heart; all the villainies, vanities, and rebellions of thy whole lifeI say, when all these shall be charged upon thy graceless soul by the implacable indignation of that highest Majesty whose mercy, ministry, and long-suffering thou hast shamefully abused; whose anger, patience, and pure eye thou hast villainously provoked all thy life long, alas! what wilt thou do then? What "wings of the morning" will then carry thee out of the reach of God's revenging hand? What cave shall receive thee? What mountain canst thou get by entreaty to fall upon thee? What darkest midnight or hellish dungeon, shall hide thee from that wrath which thou shall be neither able to abide nor to avoid? In this case, I would not have thy heart in my breast one hour, for all the riches, glory, and pleasures of ten thousand worlds. "THE CITY OF MY GOD." (PSALM xlviii. 2.) BEAUTIFUL Zion! city renowned ! BOLTON. Through the universe wide thy praise shall resound, The beautiful city, Zion the free! Beautiful Zion! the hope of thy rest Is a balm for the weary and sorrow-bound breast; For ever the song of the saved shall resound; Beautiful Zion! desire of the earth! Nor sorrow nor sighing in thee shall have birth; The prisoners of hope, here with burdens oppressed, Thy rivers of pleasures eternally roll, Anointing with gladness each blood-ransomed soul; The beautiful city, Zion the free ! -From "The Way Home."-A. S. ACCORDING to the judgment of sense, would any one choose the enjoyment of the most exquisite pleasures for a year, and afterwards be content to burn in a furnace for a day? much less to enjoy them for a day, and to burn for a year? How stupid are they who, for momentary delights, incur the fiery indignation of God for ever! Try but the finger with the flame of a candle, and you will soon discover your weakness.-Bates. ASA. THE lives of Bible saints are given to us in their varied aspects that we may desire their graces but avoid their sin. The incidents in their lives teach us many lessons, and yield profitable meditation to those who desire to follow in their footsteps, so far as they followed God. In the life of Asa we can discover the flesh and the Spirit, the saint and the sinner, the company as of two armies, the humble suppliant and the proud oppressor. The one we can rejoice over, but the other gives cause for mourning and sorrow. Yet in both does the child of God discover something of his own image, "for as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man ;" and, although the living soul would be holy as God is holy, yet he finds, by bitter experience, that the "Canaanites will dwell in the land." And surely there is a needs-be that it should be so, for if there were no thorns in our sides and pricks in our eyes to humble us, and prove us, and show us what is in our hearts, how proud we should grow; and, like a ship at sea without ballast, the first fair breeze might prove too much for us, for, instead of speeding us to our desired haven, it would probably capsize our barque, and but for the kind help of that God who holds the winds in His fist, and the waters in the hollow of His hands, we should never more steer our course heavenward. Asa began to reign well. The strange gods were broken to pieces, the groves were cut down, and Asa did that which was right and good in the eyes of the Lord his God. The Lord took notice of this, and honoured it by giving him the blessings of peace for fifteen years. Asa began well. So did Joash, who reigned well all the days of Jehoida, the high priest, but who ended by killing the son of his best friend (2 Chron. xxiv. 21). So did Uzziah, of whom it is said, "As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper; but when he became strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense." For his presumption the Lord smote him, and he was a leper to the day of his death (2 Chron. xxvi. 21). How many have seemed to begin in the Spirit, but have ended in the flesh, of whom it might be said, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you?" How many Pliables, who would outstrip in pace the poor burdened Pilgrim, have turned back at the first Slough of Despond; but it is "those that endure to the end that shall be saved." The wayside, the thorny ground, the stony ground, and the good ground hearers all started for heaven, but only one of them ever saw the pearly gates. Is it not a solemn thought that many thousands of lost souls once bid fair for glory, but sin, Satan, and the world proved too strong for them, and they soon gave up the battle, wandered out of the way, and ended as all do who are not born from above, and "kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation"? Well might the wise man say, Better is the end of a thing than the beginning." These considerations make the child of God tremble, lead him to seek for a good beginning, and for living testimonies in his soul that it is the Lord's work, and keep him very sensible of the Saviour's words, "Without Me ye can do nothing." “When any turn from Zion's way "Ah! Lord, with such a heart as mine, I feel I must, I shall decline, And prove like them at last." Asa was prevalent in prayer. The Ethiopians came against him to battle with an army of one million soldiers and three hundred chariots. Asa's army did not number many more than half as many, and he did not appear to have any chariots; therefore, while his enemies were trusting in their horses and chariots and their numerous army, Asa was crying "unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing for Thee to help, whether by many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee." In answer to this remarkable prayer, the Lord smote the huge host of Ethiopians, so that they were destroyed before Him. In this remarkable petition we notice Asa's faith and confidence in the Lord's power to help, and truly this is a certain mark that attends all real prayer, "for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of all those who diligently seek Him." We then find how implicitly Asa left his case in the Lord's hands, feeling that the battle now was not his, but the Lord's. "Let not man prevail against Thee." This should be another accompaniment to prayer, but the Lord's people, for the most part, come very short in this matter. They go to Him with their burdens and difficulties, but, instead of leaving them in His hands, and watching to see how the matter will fall, they immediately go to work to deliver themselves. This the Lord permits them to do, till they find all their strength is gone. Then He shows them their folly, and graciously enables the poor heavyladen souls to cast all their burdens upon Him, while they "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord "When first before His mercy-seat Asa had great zeal in the Lord's service. A prophet was sent to meet Asa, probably as he returned from fighting the Ethiopians, and spoke powerfully to him, showing how the Lord would continue to be his Helper all the while he continued to serve and trust in Him. The prophet's words, together with the recent deliverance wrought by the Lord on his behalf, seemed to have such a gracious effect upon the king, that he came out more boldly on the Lord's side than he had previously done; and such was his zeal for the Lord's honour that he removed his mother (1 Kings xv. 13) from being queen because she had made an idol. "And Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron" (2 Chron. xv. 16). Thus we see that the Lord's honour was more precious to him than his own flesh and blood. Not only did he destroy the false worship, but he did his utmost to establish the true worship, by renewing the altar of the Lord; and, for this purpose, he assembled all his people, with many out of the other tribes of Israel," who fell to him, when they saw the Lord his God was with him." The congregation thus assembled entered into a solemn covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all their soul; and whosoever failed to do so should be put to death (Deut. xiii. 5—11). This was another very pleasing episode in Asa's life. The good work was so mightily revived in his soul that he ran diligently in the Lord's commands, and found wisdom's ways to be pleasantness, and all her paths peace. When the Lord is pleased thus to visit His dear children, by putting His hand a second time to the work, what life, vigour, and freshness seem to be infused into the soul! And this coming, as it frequently does, after a season of soul desertion, when the poor soul has felt like the bones in Ezekiel's vision-dry, very dryand often, too, as in Asa's case, in a time of great strait and trouble-oh, how delightful it is! It is like day after night, plenty after famine, joy after sorrow, the fresh bloom of spring after the barrenness of winter, and their joyful language is "If I loved my Lord before, I would love Him ten times more ; What diligent search is then made for all Diabolians that still may be lurking in Mansoul! Every Queen Sin is dethroned, and every idol stamped in the dust, and the Lord alone is exalted in |