only"-most emphatically "Christ All in all." There was no room for the creature, nor creature-things. If the house had been swept away by a flood, or a flash of lightning had set it in a blaze, Mary would scarcely have been conscious of the fact as long as she saw and felt her loved and loving Lord was there. Ah, beloved, here is the secret of all true spirituality. The presence and the power of JehovahJesus. Not what we are, but what He is. In their sober moments afterwards, when Martha and Mary again communed with each other, the inquiry upon the part of Martha would be, not, "What did you say to Jesus, Mary ?" but "What did Jesus say to you?" "It is not what about you I want to hear, but about Him." Reader, the distinction may appear not to be of importance, but it is so, nevertheless.

We have likewise, beloved, the case of the previously mad Gadarene, of whom we read, "And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind." What a change! how marvellous the transition! "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" Just before, the man was the dread of the whole neighbourhood, and a perpetual terror to himself-his case pitiable in the extreme, and apparently hopeless to the last degree, for "he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces; neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones." What a distressing object! a wanderer indeed! a maniac of the worst description! The marvel was, that he had not destroyed himself; and herein was so richly manifested the restraining power of Jehovah. Ah, reader, do you know anything of it? Where were you, and where the writer, at this moment, but for the divine limit, "Touch not his life?" "Thus far shalt thou go, but no further? But now what an astounding change! "Sitting" at the feet of Jesus, "and clothed, and in his right mind." He had never been in his right mind before; but he, like every poor unregenerate sinner, had been out of his mind up to that time; but when the Lord speaks, when He, in His own rightful authority, says, "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit," instantly His bidding must be obeyed, for "where the word of a King is there is power." It is no mere persuasion-no vain entreaty -but a divine command-irresistible, and must be responded to. Well might that poor man, and well may every pardoned sinner, in common with him, "pray Him that he might be with Him." Well might he, and well every poor sensible sinner likewise, dread to lose sight of One who had proved Himself so powerful, and rendered Himself so precious.

"And they sat down at Thy feet." Once more, beloved; all that are the subjects of the quickening, life-giving and life-maintaining power of the Holy Ghost here, and who are enabled and constrained by Him to come and sit at the feet of Jesus here, drawn by the chords

of divine and irresistible love, shall finally and for ever sit, not at His feet merely, but upon His throne, according to that gracious covenant pledge of Jesus, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on His throne.'

Ah, beloved, what a sitting down will that be! Here we have very, very occasionally, just for the briefest season, the vast indulgence of leaning upon the Beloved, or standing before Him, or, what is more, sitting, for a moment or two, as a little respite from the din of battle, or halting on a long and weary pilgrimage, at His blessed feet. Soon, however, the marching orders are given; we must be "up and going"-not "up and doing" in the legal sense of the wordbecause we are "not as yet come to the rest and the inheritance which (saith Moses) the Lord your God giveth you." But oh, when at last the purposes of our God concerning our tarrying here are all fully and finally accomplished, what a glorious, uninterrupted, and everlastingly-abiding sitting will that be in the kingdom of light and love and eternal blessedness.

Beloved, we are aware that whilst here on pilgrimage-called to bear the burden and heat of the day-and with so much day by day and hour by hour pressing upon us, to remind us that we are tabernacling in the body of this death, and still waging a ceaseless and uninterrupted warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil, there is an ever-constant proneness to lose sight of the rest which awaits, and the glory that is to be revealed. The fact remains, nevertheless. We have not (blessed be God!) "followed cunningly-devised fables." There is a "city which hath foundations, whose Maker and Builder is God." "There is a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." There are "mansions" which Jesus hath gone hence to make ready for His wrestling, His watching, His waiting, and His not unfrequently weary ones. They shall not be disappointed. They shall encounter no defeat. The rest is as certain and the inheritance as sure as God can make it. But oh, beloved, what a time will that be! What a rest! What a sitting down in the heavenlies in Christ indeed! The wilderness passed! the Jordan crossed! sin for ever done away! Satan eternally vanquished! the world a thing of the past! Not another sigh, nor groan, nor sob, nor tear! Burdens, cares, anxieties for ever and ever to have disappeared! That inconceivable and unutterably-blessed state of things eternally and uninterruptedly realized:

“There shall I bathe my weary soul

In seas of heavenly rest,

And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast."

"There shall I see His face,

Beloved, we often say to ourselves,

And never, never sin;
There, from the rivers of His
grace,
Drink endless pleasures in.'

"And can it be? Is there

really hope for me? such bliss and such blessedness for such a sinner?" Oh, never! surely never! Then again we pluck up

courage and take heart: "But who are they that are there? What were they? Whence came they? Who were Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? Who Job and Jonah ? Who David and Daniel ? Who Peter and Paul? Who or what but sinners like ourselves? Sinners in themselves and of themselves, even as a Mary Magdalene, a poor publican, or prodigal son, or a dying thief?" And what said He who is glorified ten thousandfold more as a Saviour than had there been no sinners to save: "The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

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Lastly, and briefly. "Every one shall receive of Thy words." Ah, yes, beloved, it must be so. The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." His word, as first heard, is a quickening word. Not less was it the voice of Jesus that summoned Lazarus from the tomb-proving Him in very deed to be "the Resurrection and the Life". than it is the voice of Jesus that awakes the dead in trespasses and sins. And not merely do they hear, but they receive, His words; yes, in due time He makes His people not simply to hear, but to receive, His words. The natural heart may resist, and the poor fleshly mind cavil at, His words; but, by little and little, He will cause them to be heard and heeded, too. At first, throughout, and at the close of their pilgrimage, shall each and every son and daughter of Zion hear and receive the words of their blessed Lord and Master. At first, they hear and heed, too, when He says with power divine, "Son--daughter-give me thine heart." Again, when on their way, and in the midst of all their critical surroundings, He speaks one of His blessed "yeas" to them. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness (Isaiah xli. 10). Finally, He says in substance to them, if not in so many words, as He said to Moses, "Get thee up into this mountain and die in the mount whither thou goest up."

66 6

Come, my beloved, by purchase thou art mine,
Be life, eternal life, for ever thine;'

His Lord for glory made His servant meet,
Then called him home to worship at His feet.”

St. Luke's, Bedminster, April 29th, 1874.

THE EDITOR.

FAITH, Our Lord teaches us, is manifested in prayer (Matt. xxi. 21, 22; John xiv. 12, 13, 14). Faith says, hold on the power of Christ to work His own work, using His own instruments; faith trusts the Word of God and the power of the Gospel, and prays, supplicates a blessing on every work done for Jesus.

THERE is no going to the fair haven of glory without sailing through the narrow strait of repentance.

Wayside Notes.

GOD'S WAY OF SAVING SINNERS.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."-ISAIAH lv. 8.

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How does God save sinners? This is an important question. "Oh!" says one, in reply, "I think in such and such a way." That is a wrong beginning; and, if the beginning be wrong, the ending will be wrong. "Ithink," may land a man on the shores of destruction. 'Behold," says Naaman, in his wrath, "I thought that the prophet would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord and his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper." Yes, Naaman, you, in self-pride and calculation, thought, but God and His inspired prophet act not as you think; and the way to bring about the cure of the leprosy of sin is not according to human calculation. Another will say, "My opinion is so and so." Again, this is a wrong beginning. Job's counsellors were full of opinions, concerning which the Lord said His "anger was kindled against them, because they had not spoken the thing that was right." Another will say, "My persuasion about the matter is so and so." Such a persuasion may not come of Him that calleth you, and may be wrong in its origin and conclusion. No; our thoughts, opinions, and persuasions must all be prostrate before His mind and will, and we must come to the Bible with the simplicity of children, and deal with the matter of salvation as poor and empty ones, who can give nothing, yet gain all; and our beginnings will never be right until our thoughts, our wills, and natural beliefs are brought to nought, and we receive all as a matter of sovereign grace and mercy.

We were lately pained at being told that a certain minister was going to preach two sermons; one on God's part in the work of salvation, and the other upon man's part in the same work. Why, dear reader, if we know anything of our own sinful hearts, we can come to no other conclusion than that the only part we can take in this momentous work is to let the Almighty exercise His own will, without our putting our puny strength either in opposition or support to it. The ark wants no steadying of man's hand to keep it right, and he who attempts it will have his arm of creature strength withered. Unholiness can never help holiness, and the man who thinks he does God service by his help will be left by God helpless in the hour of need; while the poor trembling child of God, who feels far from doing a holy act, cannot think a holy thought, and, far from helping God, needs all the help the Lord can give him, day by day, and hour by hour; and such a one, amidst his felt poverty and nothingness, will be helped by the Lord in a marvellous way.

To begin, then, at the beginning, God's thoughts and God's plans are the origin of salvation.-A certain party in the House of Commons is often charged with having no policy-this we believe is untrue; but, in a higher sense, how often is God, if not positively in words, certainly in acts, charged with having no policy? and, as a consequence, His course is represented as one of universal confusion. But the truth is far otherwise His plans are perfect. He is an allwise Architect, who has laid a good foundation, and built thereon a building of eternal substance.

Now, if we sink all our ideas of the matter, and come thus simply to the Word of God, and, by the aid of His Holy Spirit, gain the Lord's will, we must find that His order runs thus: That God the Father, having determined to pardon and save millions of the human race, wrote their names in the book of life ere ever the world was made, or they were created, and that these collectively, as seen in Christ, constitute what He is pleased to call His Church and His people; that God the Son took all the guilt of that Church upon His own Person, engaged to pay all her debts, impart to her His nature, and become all for her and to her which is requisite for her present happiness and eternal glory; that God the Holy Ghost also engaged in covenant to bring out of an ungodly world the elected of the Father, exercising special and irresistible grace on their behalf, and bringing them into vital union with Christ, revealing Jesus to them as the purchase of His own most precious blood, assuring them of their adoption, leading them safely through a wilderness of multiplied care, and never leaving them till they stand amongst the glorified in heaven.

Now, dear reader, there is something like a plan and purpose here, and one in which man has no hand, nor to which he can put a finger. Infinite wisdom has arranged all, infinite love carried it out, and infinite power brought it home to the favoured recipient; nothing is omitted, nothing requires to be added, there is no clause in the covenant which can give a loop-hole of disappointment. It is " ordered in all things, and ," "that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."

sure,

Now let us see how the foregoing rule of faith can be substantiated by the Word of God. We have said that the origin of all true religion is to be traced to the will of the eternal Father, and that Infinite Wisdom has arranged all. "Before they spring forth," He says, "I tell you of them." How could He tell us of them if He had not foreknowledge? Indeed, how could He be God at all if He had not a foreknowledge of every event? But hear His own words to the point: "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do ali my pleasure.' And what that pleasure is in connection with salvation is evident. Take, for instance, David's experimental assurance concerning it -"For Thou, Lord, knowest Thy servant, and for Thy word's sake, and according to Thine heart, hast Thou done all these great things to make Thy servant know them;" and then, extending his thoughts from his own personal experience and knowledge to the whole company of the elect of God, he adds: "And what one nation in the earth is like Thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name. . . . for Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee for ever; and Thou, Lord, art become their God." And that literal Israel, His chosen and loved people, was a type of His spiritual Israel, is abundantly evident from the Scripture of truth, and from the Lord's dealings with them. What, then, is the conclusion we must arrive at from these facts, but that God, in infinite wisdom, laid down His own covenant of grace, and arranged all His plans according to the good pleasure of His will? and to think otherwise is to deny the absolute sovereignty of God. And